A few months back in England with West Ham United had seen Trebor Mahtal lift the club’s first silverware in 19 years and take them back into European football. But the Zambian manager had significant challenges ahead if he was to help the Hammers compete with England’s best.
Another big firesale began with underperforming striker Leandro Alfaro joining Wolves for £25m, which put the bank balance – £150m in the red when Mahtal joined six months ago – in the black for the first time. More of their old Argentinan contingent departed as goalkeeper César Blanco and midfielder Kevin Cortez went to Saudi for £12m and £30m. In total, Mahtal brought in £m and freed up over £1m from the weekly wage budget.
Mahtal used that income to strengthen the side with a bit of youth. His big priorities were a reliable striker and a goalkeeper. He went back to former side Frankfurt to loan in Patrick Brill, who’s been criminally underused, and snapped up brilliantly-named keeper Magique Keita for £12.75m from Belenenses. Possibly the most exciting edition is 5ft 3in attacking midfielder Jeppe Holm Andersen for up to £30.5m from Kobenhavn, along with Diogo Rodrigues for up to £27m from Gil Vicente and holding midfielder Dawid Syzmanski for up to £36m from Sassuolo. The squad was filled out with backup left back Raul Dudea for £3m from Farul and midfielder Alessio Canonico for £7.5m from Milan, as well as a loan deal for Wolves defender Maissa Loppy, who missed the first four months through injury.
Mahtal was really happy with his summer transfer business, bringing in some exciting talents to replace ageing underperformers sold for big money. He wanted to build a team around Andersen so slightly tweaked his approach to a 3-4-1-2 with the Dane and homegrown star Dave Robjohns in behind Brill, Rodrigues at right wingback, and Szymanski alongside wonderkid Troy Cowdry.
First Full Season At West Ham
The bookies don’t share Mahtal’s optimism, predicting West Ham to be relegated in 18th place with 600/1 title odds. His former club Man United are 9/5 favourites followed by holders Arsenal (3/1), Chelsea (5/1), Newcastle (10/1), Liverpool (14/1) and Man City (20/1).
West Ham started well with debutants running the show. Brill scored a superb 18-minute hat trick, the first created by Rodrigues and the second set up by a brilliant Holm Andersen run, fellow debutant Szymanski scored and centre back Omani Williams wrapped up a 5-0 win over Sunderland. That was followed by a narrow 1-0 defeat at a strong Newcastle before dominating Brentford 3-1 and Forest 2-0.
A tricky run saw West Ham go five games without a win but draw 0-0 at home to City before Brill’s brilliant brace downed Villa 4-2. Mahtal celebrated one year at West Ham with a 2-2 at home to Spurs, in which Dudea unbelievably picked up their fifth red card – more than double any other side! But a solid end to the year saw them consolidate their position in mid-table, sitting in 10th on 28 points after 19 games – 12 points clear of the dropzone.
2043 began with a 1-0 defeat at surprise leaders Newcastle then beating Sunderland by the same scoreline. They hit a hot run of form in February, defeating Arsenal and Liverpool at home after losing narrowly at Villa and City, to climb to 7th and lead a tight midtable that saw 7th to 11th split by 4 points. And a solid end to the season saw West Ham cling on in 8th, finishing ahead of Manchester City! They finished with 60 points after 16 wins, 12 draws and 10 defeats, only scoring 49 and conceding 39. Brill was the 3rd-top scorer with 16 in 28, only behind Spurs striker Simon MacDonald with 18 in 33. While the excellent Szymanski was a surprise winner of PFA Young Player of the Year after 4 goals, 6 assists and a 7.22 average rating.
Europa Conference League and FA Cup Progress
West Ham had to go through a qualifier to get into the Conference League, beating Lorient 2-1 away then losing 1-0 to a 90th-minute goal at home. But backup goalkeeper Delane Chamberlayne was the hero, saving four penalties as his teammates missed three to sneak a 3-2 shootout win.
A relatively easy set of fixtures followed, starting with a trip inside the Arctic Circle and Andersen’s first goal for the club led a 2-0 win over Tromso. Andersen, Rodrigues and Szymanski led a 3-1 win over Fenerbahcen and Brill and Andersen downed Hammarby 2-1 before losing 1-0 at Vitória Guimaraes. But they qualified with ease as Robjohn’s penalty earned a 1-0 over Baník Ostrava before a 7-2 thumping of TNS secured a 3rd-place finish.
West Ham headed back to Norway in the round of 16 and defeated Lillestrom 8-3 on aggregate. The worst possible quarter-final draw followed as they faced Mahtal’s former side Eintracht Frankfurt, who were lingering in 10th in Bundesliga. The game started poorly as right back Chris Jones became the latest injury casualty as Frankfurt scored their first shot. But Rodrigues teed up striker Sergio Sánchez for the equaliser and they played out a pretty poor 1-1. Mahtal rested the first 11 for the league game between the ties, but another terrible match followed. Both sides struggled to create so Mahtal risked Robjohns, who was recovering from a hamstring strain, and it paid off as he delivered the only moment of quality in the match.
That set up a semifinal with FC Basel, while Vitória took on Botev Plovdiv. That proved a much easier task as Brill, Robjohns, Cowdry and Rodrigues earned a dominant 4-0 win in Switzerland and they somehow didn’t score at home despite having 13 shots to 0. But that sent West Ham into the Conference League Final!
West Ham fans were also dreaming of cup success in the FA Cup as their team cruised into the quarter finals then Rodrigues’ brace, which trebled his tally for the season, downed Everton 3-0. A favourable semi-final draw followed as West Ham faced Leeds, three days after the Frankfurt win, while Arsenal took on Man United. The close proximity to the European game showed as they got battered in the first half and weren’t much better in the second. But Mahtal kept pushing and the players eventually delivered with Rodrigues chipping a ball across for Holm Andersen to sweep home on the half-volley to send West Ham to the FA Cup Final!
Two Chances To Tick W Off The Alphabet Challenge
West Ham finished the 2042/43 with two cup finals, giving Mahtal two opportunities to tick W off the list. First up was a London derby FA Cup Final against Arsenal at Wembley on 23 May. Mahtal had no injury concerns, so lined up:
Keita; Williams, Martínez, Wesley; Rodrigues, Szymanski, Cowdry, Suárez; Holm Andersen, Robjohns; Brill
Subs: Sánchez, Chamberlayne, Loppy, Canonico, Dudea, Jones, Djemaili, Neblett, Russell
West Ham started slowly and conceded to a great move after 18 minutes and early in the second half. They never even threatened, Robjohns got injured yet again, and Arsenal and whimpered to a 2-0 defeat.
Four days later, West Ham travelled to Friends Arena in Solna, Sweden to face Vitória Guimaraes, the only team to have beaten them in the Conference League this season. Robjohns was ruled out, so Mahtal moved Rodrigues into midfield, brought Jones and Dude in at wingback, and dropped Martínez for Loppy. And he lined up:
Keita; Williams, Wesley, Loppy; Jones, Szymanski, Cowdry, Dudea; Holm Andersen, Rodrigues, Brill
Subs: Sánchez, Chamberlayne, Martínez, Canonico, Suárez, Davies, Djemaili, Neblett, Russell
West Ham again started slowly, giving away a slightly dubious penalty on 24 minutes, but Keita stepped up to save it low to his left. A terrible game saw the sides share four shots in the first half and a few more in the second, without a single highlight. Eevn less happened in extra time, until Mahtal thought they’d lost it in the 117th minute, only for VAR to save them with a tight offside decision. That took it to a penalty shootout that perfectly matched the total lack of quality that preceded it. Syzmanski scored, then Keita saved Vitória’s first spotkick. Cowdry missed, Vitória missed their second, Canonico scored, and Keita saved another – his third penalty save of the match – to give Rodrigues a chance to win it. And he kept his cool to tuck the ball into the bottom corner.
West Ham United won the Europa Conference League!
Celebrating European Success
Mahtal’s summer transfer business was rewarded as his young West Ham side delivered success at the end of the 2042/43 season. Brill proved to be a brill signing, leading the way with 22 goals in 48 games followed by Rodrigues (14), Robjohns (12), Holm Andersen (7) and Syzmanski (5). Robjohns, when fit, was very much their best player again, leading the way with 17 assists followed by Cowdry (10), Syzmanski and Jones (8), Rodrigues (7) and Holm Andersen (6). However, the star of the campaign had to be Keita, who only conceded 30 and kept 22 clean sheets in 42 games – and, of course, singlehandedly won West Ham the Conference League.
The cup finals themselves were absolutely terrible spectacles, with West Ham barely turning up in either. But they had Keita to thank for squeezing them over the line in the Conference League, which allowed Mahtal to tick W off his list. He’d made West Ham a force in England and repaired their financial damage, so Mahtal was a little sad to leave the East London side.
But, two days after lifting the European title, Mahtal tendered resignation and went in search of his 11th club. Mahtal leaves West Ham after 535 days and 94 games, of which he won 50, drew 26 and lost 18, scoring 145 and conceding 57.
Where would he end up as he went in search of the 9th letter on this challenge? Join us on Monday to find out!
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