Upson: Not time to panic
West Ham United defender Matthew Upson insists there is no need to panic just yet after the club's poor start to the season.
West Ham is sitting bottom of the table after four games and without a single point on the board. The club has conceded 12 goals and scored just twice in the first games of the football year.
Upson said: "It has been a shocking start in terms of results, but I am not hitting panic buttons yet. It is important how we behave in training this coming week, how it is structured, what we do. Those things are vital going into a game next weekend that we want to win."
Upson admits that the side has been playing badly but the Premier League season is long and there is a lot of time to improve. However, this will not stop the club's fans getting a little bit fidgety over the coming weeks.
There are many reasons why Upson is right when he says that there is no need to panic. However, some pundits have already said that it's obvious West Ham will struggle this season.
No need to panic
West Ham has 34 games left in the Premier League to eradicate the negativity that has been created by the first four. The side has a lot of time to make tactical changes and get all of the big decisions right.
West Ham has a lot of good coaches at the club. These coaches will work hard over the coming weeks to make sure the problems of the first four games don't reappear any time soon. Training is all about getting better, improving and not looking back.
Avram Grant is not a naive manager. He is doing the best he can with the tools at his disposal. It's likely he's already had harsh words with the side and will be looking for a response in the next one or two weeks.
A doomed side
A few high profile pundits have said that West Ham looks like a doomed side after the first month of the Premier League. The first four games have shown real problems within the West Ham team, most notably in defence.
The performances have all been poor and far below normal Premier League standards. However, it's important that everyone connected with West Ham remembers that Spurs had only two points after eight games during the 2008-09 season.
Upson added: "We need to do things sharp, positive and get things buzzing. The biggest negatives were the errors and that is something we have to eradicate from our game to move forward. We have had four games now and four different right-backs plus three different players on the right side of central defence. It is so hard to get that clarity of what your job is when you are chopping and changing all the time. "
Betting advice
The best approach to take with West Ham at the moment is backing key players in the side. It's impossible to bet on the team right now because no one seems to know the sort of West Ham side that is going to turn up. Carlton Cole and Scott Parker are both ideal players to back to score a goal.
If you prefer backing teams as opposed to key players then bet in play. West Ham has too much quality for this run to last much longer. As soon as you see some positive signs in one of the club's up and coming matches then back the side to get the first win of the season on the board.
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