How does this year’s team compare with West Ham's best Premier League XI?

In June of this year, the Daily Mail published what they believed to be West Ham’s greatest ever Premier League XI.

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Article by Tom Burford

Seeing as we have completed our most successful start to a Premier League campaign under our new leader Slaven Bilic, I thought it only right to compare and contrast the team of today with our greatest over the last 21 years.

Here is how the Daily Mail lined us up;

4-4-2 Miklosko, G Johnson, R Ferdinand, Bilic, Dicks, Benayoun, Lampard, J Cole, Sinclair, Di Canio, Tevez

Some questionable ones in there (no Parker?!?), but I wanted to see if any of our current crop could keep any of the above out of the starting line-up.

There are some obvious names that aren’t in the reckoning but that’s purely based on the original formation. 4-4-2 wouldn’t suit us now, so I’ve put a couple of squads together at the end.

Ludek Miklosko v Adrian

I think this is probably one of the toughest calls of the lot. They were both cult heroes, both have their own songs and most importantly are both world class goalkeepers.

Miklosko was the first non-British winner of the Hammer of the Year award thanks to some unbelievable shot stopping throughout the 1990’s, most famously his string of saves to deny Manchester United the Premier League title on the final day of the 1994/1995 season.

I can’t remember a bigger goalkeeping cult hero since Ludo than Adrian, and he’s won us a fair few points since he joined the club, namely that famous 0-0 at Stamford Bridge in 2014 as part of the 19th century side.

It was a close one, but Ludo just shades it for me

Winner: Ludek Miklosko

Glen Johnson v Carl Jenkinson

There’s no doubt that if we were to look at their career progression, Glen Johnson would have the upper hand over our current loanee. But taking only West Ham games into account, this is a much closer call.

Glen Johnson’s cool head in a desperate and ultimately failed relegation battle won the hearts of the fans, many of which hope he’d stay for the promotion fight, but instead he was sold to Chelsea for around £6m.

Jenkinson has added some much required class to that right-back spot. His has electric pace and is as useful in attack as in defence and despite not yet being a permanent addition, he’s played a lot more games than Johnson ever did.

This is a slightly easier choice

Winner: Carl Jenkinson

Julian Dicks v Aaron Cresswell

You can do an awful lot worse than Aaron Cresswell as your left back, and I think he is just unfortunate to be up against probably the best in the clubs history, let along in the Premier League.

Four-time Hammer of the Year Julian Dicks was and still is a legend of the club and it’s great to see him as part of the coaching set-up under former team mate Slaven Bilic.

Aaron Cresswell is one of my favourite players currently and despite a couple of glaring mistakes, he’s taken to life in the Premier League like a duck to water. His pace and spatial awareness are exemplary, and is his passing and crossing, and it’s a mystery to me as to why he hasn’t even been considered as a future England international. But this is a nation that didn’t pick Julian Dicks either! Maybe it’s because he joined West Ham!

Winnner – Julian Dicks

Rio Ferdinand v Ogbonna/Tomkins/Collins

I still think Rio has all three of these on toast. Tomkins can look world class one day and way off it another and maybe a consistent run in the first team would help eradicate that trend. But as long as Reid and Ogbonna are fit, they should be our first choice for me.

Rio Ferdinand was colossal throughout his career and was one of our golden academy generation in the late 90’s to early 00’s.

He won Hammer of the Year at the age of just 19 and went on to make over 80 caps for England. He won every club honour going at Manchester United and will go down as one of England’s greatest centre-halves, let alone one of West Ham’s greatest!

Winner - Rio Ferdinand

Slaven Bilic v Winston Reid

With the exception of Rio Ferdinand only, Winston Reid is the best defender I’ve ever seen play for West Ham (since 1996/97). I think almost every club in the league would want him in their squad, and why wouldn’t they?

Originally signed as a full-back, Reid struggled in his first season at Upton Park when the club were relegated under Avram Grant. But Big Sam turned him into a world beater when he moved him to centre-half, and was clearly Premier League standard throughout that season in the Championship.

Bilic was class also and won the respect of the fans with his accomplished performances alongside the likes of Marc Rieper and a young Rio Ferdinand.

But Winston Reid scored a winner against Millwall so Slaven may just have to coach this team instead of play in it!

Winner: Winston Reid

Yossi Benayoun v Victor Moses

As much as I rated Yossi, I feel there were better left sided midfielders than him. I really liked Matty Etherington and am surprised he wasn’t included in the XI.

Benayoun was total class in his first season with us in 2005/2006 but I felt his head really dropped when we were in our great escape season. He scored a couple of important goals that year but I felt he went missing in a lot of the games.

He did pop back for another spell in 2012/13 but didn’t really make any sort of impact.

I love Victor Moses, he is so quick and powerful and has epitomised the style of football we’ve played away to the big teams this year, soaking up the pressure and hitting teams with lightning quick counter attacks. He has electric pace and has shown he knows where the net is when he’s been loaned out to various clubs from Chelsea. They need him at the moment.

Just because I prefer this type of player, and that I think he’s more up for a fight than Benayoun ever was, I’m going for Victor.

Winner – Victor Moses

Frank Lampard v Mark Noble

I could lose a lot of friends here, and this is probably the toughest of the lot.

No matter what some fans think of him or the way he left, Lampard was superb for us and was never really given a chance after the hoohah about him being selected in the mid 90’s because of his father’s position on the coaching staff.

He went on to prove everyone wrong, and I can’t help but think if he felt more loved at West Ham, he might have helped us on the way to some silverwear.

He is the highest scoring midfielder in Premier League history, and that is a stat that can’t be argued with, no matter how many shots it took him to get there!

Mark Noble remains our longest serving player and in my opinion one of our most consistent. It looks like his England chance has passed him by. If only him and Jordan Henderson has swapped clubs that might have been very different.

I’m going with Lampard though, as he was my first favourite player.

Winner: Frank Lampard JNR

Joe Cole v Manuel Lanzini

Depending on whether you are looking for flair or whether you want a ball winning midfielder (Kouyate/Song) make a big difference here.

Manuel Lanzini is a superb player and we have to sign him on a permanent basis. He so young still and he’s got the potential to be one of the best players in Europe, I truly believe that.

But he’s up against a player who was one of the best players in Europe at his peak, and I think he just pips Manuel Lanzini.

Joe Cole was a magician, and I used to love going to watch him play when I was still a young boy. It was a delight to watch his box of tricks and the way he’d turn defenders inside out.

If we’re all being honest, he truly reached his full potential under Jose Mourinho at Chelsea. He was one of the best midfielders in our history.

Winner – Joe Cole

Trevor Sinclair v Dimitri Payet

This is a tough one. Trevor Sinclair is one of my favourite players I got to see play for us, and leaving him out would mean that Payet would be out of position on the right.

Sinclair played his best football in partnership with French right-back Sebastien Schemmel. They created fearsome attacks down the right for West Ham in the 2001-2002 season, Glenn Roeder’s first full season in charge.

But Dimitri Payet is probably the most technically gifted out of anyone in this list, and although we’ve only seen him for 11 league games, he’s proven throughout his career at various clubs that he’s one of Europe’s best attacking players.

If Joey Cole switched out to the right, I’d put Payet in CAM

Winner: Dimitri Payet

Paolo Di Canio v Diafra Sakho

I feel sorry for Sakho that he’s up against Paolo, not many would get in ahead of him.

Sakho has been superb since joining from FC Metz last season, not only proving he has an eye for goal, but has been a real pest in the role of target man in the early stages of this season.

He’s really caused Bilic a selection headache when Carroll, Valencia, Zarate and Jelavic are all fit.

Di Canio was on another level though. A genius

Winner: Paolo Di Canio

Carlos Tevez v Andy Carroll

This is a tough one because Andy Carroll is probably the best target man in the Premier League.

When he’s on song, he’s absolutely unplayable, and must be an England regular when he’s fully fit.

I’m certainly not in the ‘let’s cash in on him’ group of supporters. With the right guidance and in the right system he could be great for us.

Tevez was special though. To come into a team that was on it’s a**e and completely turn it around almost single-handedly was remarkable.

I think the 22 year old Carlos Tevez would have been a no brainer, but in the present day, Carroll might have pushed him a little closer.

Winner: Carlos Tevez

Here’s how it looks. 4-3-1-2.

But what about using Slaven’s tactics? 4-2-3-1

Which do you think is better? Who do you think should have made the squads?

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