If Tottenham win tonight they’ll be 41 POINTS ahead of sorry West Ham
BILIC: WE HAVE GOT SO MUCH TO LEARN FROM THEM
IF PROOF were needed that nostalgia is overrated it is worth noting that a year ago this weekend, West Ham lost 4-1 at home to Swansea. People still talk fondly about the last game at Upton Park — victory over Manchester United — but rarely mention the game preceding it. Still, ask your average West Ham supporter and they would happily swap last season for this.
Then: Upton Park. Now: the London Stadium. Then: seventh in the Premier League and one point from Europe. Now: 15th and seven points from the Championship. Then: Slaven Bilic, a manager on the way up. Now: Slaven Bilic, a manager who may well be on the way out.
So it is fair to say that this season, the one that was supposed to signal the start of a bright future, has not gone well.
Tonight, Tottenham visit and West Ham have the opportunity to derail their London rival’s title challenge. That prospect will lend the occasion something extra. But it would be a relatively small victory at the end of a season in which the gap between these clubs has widened alarmingly.
Last season the Premier League points difference was eight. If Tottenham win tonight, it will be a cavernous 41.
Asked yesterday if Tottenham represent the club West Ham would quite like to be, Bilic said candidly: ‘They have built a really good team. So it’s a good question. We have to do things with a limited budget and Spurs have shown us how. They actually bought some of the players we wanted last year so either they were lucky or they had great scouts.
‘But that is the way that gives us . . . not hope, but to see what they are doing.
‘It takes time to do it, of course, but you can’t talk about time. Nowadays you don’t have much.’
Bilic may be right. In January last year, West Ham coowner David Sullivan spoke glowingly of his manager to this newspaper before adding as a throwaway that: ‘You do get one- season wonders sometimes.’
It would seem ridiculous to sack the Croat but all of us, including Bilic, can hear the jungle drums.
The 48- year- old was asked repeatedly about his future yesterday. Sensibly, he would not be drawn and the closest he came to acknowledging any sense of peril was to say: ‘I have another year on my contract but when you are playing Tottenham it’s not about how long your contract is. It’s about your performance.’
Bilic has undoubtedly been a force for good, moving West Ham forward from their uncomfortable relationship with Sam Allardyce. But, as the club have struggled to settle in their new home and lost their best player Dimitri Payet in January, Bilic’s injury- struck team have fallen into the kind of malaise that is never tolerated for long in the East End.
Do what you like to West Ham fans but do not bore them.
‘This season is not the one we wanted, I’m not hiding from that,’ Bilic said. ‘But anyone linked with West Ham should know we have had many unbelievable obstacles. These are not excuses, just reasons.’
West Ham have won one of their last nine league games. By contrast, Mauricio Pochettino’s buccaneering Tottenham have won all their last nine and know victory tonight takes them to within a point of leaders Chelsea.
With Chelsea facing Middlesbrough at home on Monday, any setback for Spurs tonight may effectively end the story. Victory, though, raises the stakes. It will be that kind of evening.
‘They are the club playing the best football,’ Bilic added. ‘I have nothing but praise for them. Sometimes I wonder how Chelsea managed to make that gap between them.’
It must pain West Ham fans to watch Tottenham. They play like West Ham should, at least if stories of yore are to be believed. Yesterday Bilic seemed to suggest his team would seek to hit their opponents on the break. West Ham are the home team, remember.
For those with petty rivalries at heart, there is at least some small hope for West Ham. If the Hammers have taken recent steps backwards then so may Tottenham when they play ‘home’ games at Wembley next season.
That subject was high on Pochettino’s own agenda when he spoke yesterday. The Argentinian talked at length of the quality of his relationship with Tottenham owner Daniel Levy. Still, his words on Wembley sounded like a message.
‘It’s important the club know that next season will be tough, different,’ said Pochettino. ‘Our will needs to be bigger. Everyone needs to be at their best in order to arrive at the new stadium in the best condition.’
Pochettino went so far as to say he and Bilic may discuss new stadium issues after tonight’s match. Given what tends to happen when these teams meet, that sounds unlikely.
Other than that yesterday Pochettino spent time fending off questions about full back Kyle Walker. A personality clash between player and manager is likely to see Walker sold, with the England player’s transfer value
also needed to part-fund Pochettino’s desire to sign three players.
Statistics show that over the last two seasons, Spurs have amassed 15 more points than any other English club. Over the same time, their net spend has been £7million.
That points to astute management and to the fact that Tottenham are not yet a club awash with money. That is what the new stadium is about.
Yesterday Pochettino spoke of one day arriving with Tottenham as a super club to match the likes of Manchester United. It will take a while but we can all see the direction of travel.
Tottenham have an increasing feel of a club sure of their place in the grand scheme of things. West Ham, meanwhile, seem stuck somewhere horrible, in that noman’s land between old and new.
Spurs have answered all their questions this season while West Ham have not. Tonight’s result — no matter how tribally important — changes none of that.