The third season preview looks at our best centre back from the past few seasons.
What he did well last season
Winston Reid had a solid season last year but never reached the heights that saw him named Hammer Of The Year in 2013. The New Zealander’s season was disrupted with three injuries (two hamstring injuries and a thigh injury) which kept him out for a total of 74 days. They all came within the second half of the season and was a possible reason why our brilliant first half to the season was not sustained. Reid’s absence in defence could have also contributed to our inability to hold onto a lead.
He featured in the 2-2 draw with Spurs in March and 1-1 draw with Stoke in April however did not feature in the 1-1 draw with Man United in February; in all of these games we conceded late on. The central defensive partnership was very unstable featuring a total of five players in different combinations during the second half of the season (Reid, Tomkins, Collins, Kouyate, Burke) so even if Reid did feature in a match, the defence was never going to be as strong as it could have been due to the instability. Nevertheless, Reid did perform well in the early parts of the season, notably in the 3-1 home win against Liverpool in September in which he scored the first goal and also against Leicester City at home when he won man of the match.
This season also saw an end to Reid’s contract saga. It was a confusing situation as the player did a complete U-turn and signed a new six and a half year contract worth £60,000 a week. Before this Reid had seemed adamant that he wanted to leave; however, in March he changed his mind and decided to stay, saying that the move to the Olympic Stadium was a big factor. However I have my suspicions. I have a feeling that the co-chairmen told Reid that Big Sam would be gone at the end of the season and that really made up Reid’s mind.
What he can improve on
Not so much what he can improve on but if he can find his form this season we will have a seriously good defender once more. The last two seasons have been plagued with injury for Reid so he needs to stay injury free in order to form a strong partnership with Angelo Ogbonna who has been confirmed as our 5th summer signing. Reid made just one defensive error last season which just shows his quality. If he had to improve on anything he could wipe defensive errors out of his game completely however this can never truly be done as defensive errors are inevitable unfortunately, especially at West Ham!
What we can expect from Reid next season
It’s difficult to say with his injury record but should he stay injury free then Winston Reid can become one of the best defenders in the league. He was very highly rated back in 2013 and even though his value as a top centre back has not dropped too severely (after all he was targeted by Arsenal and Liverpool before he signed his contract), he needs to become consistent for West Ham and once more prove his class to the West Ham faithful. I think a lot will depend on the relationship Reid has with the new manager Slaven Bilic. The Croatian was a class defender in his day and a good working relationship could see Winston Reid become even better.
The current New Zealand captain may be hoping to take over the armband from Kevin Nolan, having captained the side before, however I think it’s looking more likely that it will go to Mark Noble. I hope Angelo Ogbonna and can form a good defensive partnership and hopefully combined with our excellent left-back, Aaron Cresswell, and fantastic ‘keeper, Adrián, we can keep more than the eight clean sheets we earned in the last campaign.
