THE SAME old problems are coming back to bite West Ham on the bum — and hard.
Nearly £44million has been spent on two new strikers to save their season, while letting the Premier League know-how of Callum Wilson walk away.
Wilson, 33, was an odd signing in the first place but he was the only one showing signs of anything up front. It makes no sense to let him go.
Hammers fans are well beyond the point of thinking their new No 9 is going to turn things around.
The arrivals of Taty Castellanos and Pablo Felipe take the number of centre-forwards signed under this ownership to FIFTY NINE — and when was the last time they had a good one?
Michail Antonio was a good talisman for West Ham but was signed as a winger and the same goes for Jarrod Bowen and Marko Arnautovic.
No one will know much about these two new lads but having worked on a lot of Serie A football as a pundit, I can tell you Castellanos is bang average at best.
His goalscoring in Italy — ten last season and two this term — offers little hope that he is what the Hammers need to turn things around and secure safety.
Their 2-1 defeat to Nottingham Forest on Tuesday was bleak but they are not done for yet. I have been in these situations as a player and a couple of wins turns everything around within the squad.
Spend a bit more money on the right characters and things can improve quickly.
But that is their biggest hurdle — no one trusts West Ham to spend well these days.
It is not just up front where they have wasted big money, the £40m spent on centre-back Max Kilman looks horrendous given the way he has been playing for a long time.
But it is not just Kilman. Konstantinos Mavropanos and Jean-Clair Todibo are also both hopeless defenders.
In these situations you either need some old heads to keep things calm or young, enthusiastic players from the Championship — players who are going to step up and run all day for you because they are so delighted by the opportunity.
You don’t see that when you look at this West Ham squad. What also appears to be missing is a manager who has everyone onside.
In pushing Wilson aside and also freezing out James Ward-Prowse from day one, Nuno Espirito Santo has made big mistakes and doesn’t look the sort to hold his hands up.
When the side is so low on confidence and made up of players in Kyle Walker-Peters, Mateus Fernandes and Crysencio Summerville, who all have recent relegations on their record, you need to turn to some proper experience.
Former Southampton star Ward-Prowse has been a Premier League captain and survived more relegation battles than he has lost — going down just the once following the 2022-23 season with Saints.
Nuno’s refusal to change is arrogant, bone-headed and what will get them relegated.
Another issue that is far harder to solve is that stadium.
Empty London Stadium seats
There were so many empty seats at the London Stadium on Tuesday night — a clear sign supporters are giving up.
It will make it an even easier place to go for visiting teams. I went there when it was first handed over to West Ham and it is a strange place to play.
Some modern grounds are nice places but the fans are still right on top of you, making it uncomfortable.
Not so in Stratford. There is acres of space between the touchline and the stands, so where you would normally have fans hurling the ball back at you with a side order of abuse, you just get a moment to compose yourself and go again.
Playing there, there is no sense the fans are building pressure or momentum on the visitors and it is so easy to quieten down the Hammers faithful.
In four visits to the London Stadium I scored three goals and it is hard to think of anywhere easier to go to in the Premier League.
