West Ham Primed For Great Second Half To Season Since Payet Affair Is Over

West Ham Primed For Great Second Half To Season Since Payet Affair Is Over

The Frenchman has been almost erased from West Ham history in the last week or so but no Hammers fan, if they are being honest, will have wanted to see Dimitri Payet leave this month.

However, what’s done is done and the club have handled the entire saga in good form, squeezing £25m out of a 29-year-old hell-bent on leaving is very good business.

Furthermore, and bear with me here, they have improved their squad in swapping the former St. Etienne man for Hull City’s Robert Snodgrass.

Whilst Payet’s talent, flair and impact cannot be questioned, there are plenty of traits and tactics around him that weakened Slaven Bilic’s side whilst his talisman was on the pitch.



The France international has a very firm belief that, when he is on the pitch, he is unstoppable which, at times is ideal for a manager, see West Ham v Middlesbrough, however, there are plenty of occasions when such moves would have fallen apart leaving a host of disgruntled fans, teammates and coaches.

Play in such a manner for long enough and it will rub off on the rest of the squad, and not in the sense that they too believe they are unstoppable.

When the Hammers were struggling to break down a side, and often when they were even playing well, absolutely everything went through Payet.

Whilst he is a supremely talented midfielder, he cannot do it alone, which probably goes someway in explaining West Ham’s woeful start to this season, the fact they had moved house had little to do with the football, they were also terrible away from home at times.

In the addition of Robert Snodgrass, not only have they got all the positives that a new addition brings, in an eagerness to prove his worth to everyone around him, they have someone who has played a key role in every side he has been a part of to date.

Whilst he was the standout performer for the Tigers, much like Payet before the whole saga kicked off, things will work differently at the London Stadium.

The Scottish international brings with him a level of creative flair and dead ball brilliance sufficient to replace that of the disgraced hero, but also adds more on a collective level.

The former Norwich man will fight not only to add goals and assists to his own tally, but will work seamlessly with the likes of Manuel Lanzini and Michail Antoino around him to create a more collective attacking force than existed previously.

Payet’s form had been well wide of the mark this term, meaning the loss will not be as hardfelt as it may have this time last year, but whatever form the Frenchman was in, Bilic is better off with Snodgrass in his side anyday.