Very premature thread with 33 games left!
West Ham lost an integral player to injury, somebody who we were touted as being interested in and he's a local lad. They rested their most influential player for the 1st 3 games because of the euros and also the move to the Olympic Stadium from Upton Park was always going to have an effect on recreating atmosphere.
Stoke have had a tough opening to the season against City, Everton, Spurs and Palace away!
And as for ourselves I'm definitely not getting carried away because we WILL hit a rough patch with injuries and bans. Our squad is light on quality backup in key areas.
But surely if both teams had done good business, better than us some were saying, these factors wouldn't matter would they? If we were to move to a new stadium would that be an acceptable excuse for not performing?
I don't think anyone is getting carried away as it's only been 5 games. But the way some were talking and I'm sure you were one of them at some points, our season was over before it started and teams like Stoke and WH had the better of the summer.
I think what RS is tying to say is that judgement should be reserved until the football has started. Players were being written off far too early who are now showing to be good signings even if it is still early days. A lot of our business was rubbished too and it's now looking to be quite good.