It did bring a tear to my eyes, watching us finally produce a memorable victory, something to cling onto, something to give us all hope.
At last the home crowd at the London Stadium witnessed a performance that made up for the anguish and the agony of a season that would make hardened Irons cry, let alone doves (now shut up all you lot out there, I’ve worked on this nonsense for hours).
We’ve endured terrible home defeats to Spurs, Chelsea, Crystal Palace, Brentford and Liverpool—to name the few I can remember. Then more recently defeats by Fulham and Nottingham Forest, plus a heartbreaking draw in ridiculous overtime with Manchester United just added to the pain and depression.
There have been others, real tear-jerkers that are the reason we are in the mess we are in. For me, those tears after the 4-0 win over Wolves, were tears of joy and a deep felt relief. Wolves, all but relegated, were swept away and we were out of the bottom three for the first time since December.
In the end it was an excellent, uplifting performance where some of the square pegs in Nuno Espirito Santo’s system clicked into place. Taty Castellanos with two fine instinctive goals, Pablo Felipe with all the perspiration, running, pressing and effort complimented with a sublime flicked pass for Taty’s first showing that despite the real concerns about his lack of pace, there’s a talent in there.
Tomas Soucek, Matty Fernandes and the villain-to-hero performance of Dinos Mavropanos, epitomised Nuno’s new-look, furiously determined side. And of course we had Jarrod Bowen, for me the outstanding contributor of late. But more of him later.
There’s another sort of tears, tears of a clown (you could see that coming) from Spurs skipper Cristian Romero after yet another defeat on the road at Sunderland. Now I don’t wish injury on anyone, and I have plenty of Spurs fans as mates so I don’t want them upset, but they all understand the way of the world in situations like this.
Romero was in tears at the Stadium of Light. He may well now miss the rest of the season, was he crying over the state of Spurs under his captaincy or was it he feared the injury was bad and he’d miss the World Cup? We’ll never know the answer to that. “Don’t cry for me Argentina” maybe (sorry about that one).
But six game bans and 14 yellows is certainly not the leadership Spurs would have hoped for. Which brings me (eventually, I know) to the point. We have a captain in Bowen we should be proud of and to cherish what he brings to this club.
All season there’s been the narrative that he’s not captain material. All along I’ve disagreed. I see a calm, controlled professional who takes the job seriously, as well as being consistently our best player.
Being captain is not the Bruno Fernandes version, constantly berating every refereeing decision in the official’s face or ear. Bowen knows referees rarely change their decisions but he knows that a calm, controlled dialogue suggests he may get across a considered view, point out previous inconsistencies.
He leads by example and can defuse situations. He clearly cares about the role and the fans, his after match interviews are articulate and make sense. And all along he is producing decent displays on the field.
There are times this season that he looks to be carrying an injury or has found the pressures too much. But he now has more assists this term that only Bruno Fernandes and Rayan Cherki can better.
He also copes well with the celebrity statues that comes with a showbiz wife and a father-in-law that belts out song about who is “shagging” his daughter. It’s just part of the job.
He finds time to spend money helping his first club, Hereford, replaced the drainage system at Edgar Street, a ground many old-time fans will remember well.
And it’s becoming obvious that his on-field behaviour, his quiet leadership in the dressing room, is a big part of the growing team spirit Nuno is fostering. At £18m six years ago from Hull, he is arguably the best signing of the David Moyes era.
He’s the last remaining squad player at the club from his debut against Southampton. Since then he’s amassed 274 games, 84 goals and 60 assists by now and we should be grateful he’s here, however long for we don’t know.
He’s got 22 England caps now but I fear he’ll miss out on the World Cup, Thomas Tuchel has too many sexier options down that right flank. But Bowen would cover several positions, work hard and not let anyone down. If we end up singing “too good for England”, it would be a crying shame.
So where are we now? Leeds winning at Manchester United and Nottingham Forest getting a point against Aston Villa means Spurs’ defeat is the only real bright spot in the wake of our win over Wolves.
There’s been too much euphoria after the Wolves three points. There’s a need for some context. Next weekend Leeds, Spurs and Forest all have winnable home games against Wolves, Brighton and Burnley respectively before we face Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park next Monday. It could all look a lot different by then.
The fear is it will all come down to us or Spurs for that last relegation spot, and you have to hope that there’s no new coach bounce and they continue their plunge to the Championship, where they were last there for one season in the mid-seventies.
Already there’s a Sky/MSM media campaign built around ”It’s unthinkable” that Spurs go down, and the sympathy vote is in full swing, as if Spurs are too big and don’t deserve to go down. Do they deserve to stay up over us? I hope that isn’t the theme that dominates the media from now on.
Don’t forget they’ve had vast amounts of Champions League money this season and are still in this mess. And never forget they were in the European Super League mob that were happy to pull up the drawbridge behind them to exclude the rest of the Premier League 14.
Does their super club status—much of which is in their own minds—mean they have a divine right to stay in the Premier League? I doubt it.
At this point we are showing the fight, team spirit and desire. Soucek, Mavropanos and Bowen are showing that, there’s a belief in this side at last. It has taken time, too long, for Nuno to get things going. But since the defeat at Wolves and the unlucky home loss to Forest, West Ham are a changed side. The 11 league games since the Forest defeat has seen us win five and draw three, 18 points from 33.
The changes are clear. We’ve only lost two of eight since Mads Hermansen took over in goal at Burnley, a 2-0 win. The same time that Axel Disasi and Mavropanos were paired together in central defence.
Castellanos has produced running and energy up front, and five goals 16 games. The partnership with Pablo is starting to click. It is all starting to look positive now with six games to go. Let’s just hope it’s not all too late. Tears for fears, maybe?
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