TIME FOR BLUES T0 CALL THE TUNE...
AT the start of the season, you wouldn’t have put too much money on Everton v West Ham being a game where the loser would be in the bottom three, going into the international break. But the table doesn’t lie. West Ham have struggled to accommodate their new signings and laboured with the tough Thursday-sunday schedule of the Europa Conference League.
Everton, well, they haven’t won any games. It’s as simple – and as worrying – as that. I think they recruited well in the summer and Frank Lampard has changed the mood around Goodison, no doubt.
They’ve also looked decent in a lot of their matches this season.
But none of that matters once you get stuck in the rut of a run of games without a win. Football’s all about confidence. You look at the great teams, and when they go on a winning run it becomes an addictive habit.
They think they’re unbeatable and that’s how it turns out.
But the converse is true as well. Losing so easily becomes a habit… a bloody nasty one, too, and one that’s hard to kick.
It doesn’t matter how you feel you’re playing, in the end, without a win, you start to hide a little, take the easy option, let someone else take responsibility. It’s a destructive, negative spiral.
Everton are approaching that territory now. They desperately need a win to give that little lift before the
internationals, to make training a place you want to be for the players left behind.
So it needs someone to stand up and drive them towards what they want and need. Frank Lampard will be looking around at his squad now and staring into the eyes of his players to see who has that.
His new signings look like they do. Idrissa Gueye and Amadou Onana look like they have that and I know Conor Coady and James Tarkowski are leaders, too. Neal Maupay brings the confidence of top-four Brighton with him.
Some of those have to stand up against a good West Ham team because, no matter how well they’ve played, they really can’t go on much longer without a win… those are the sorts of habits which get you relegated.