The Eastenders find themselves out of the League Cup and one place off the bottom of the English Premiership
If you cast your mind back to May and the FA Cup final, it was only a last minute thunderbolt from Steven Gerrard that separated West Ham from a piece of silverware to accompany their impressive ninth place in their first season back in the top flight.
Fast-forward five months and the pressure is on manager Alan Pardew after seven defeats in a row in the league and now they've been dumped out of the Carling Cup by League One Chesterfield.
Despite Marlon Harewood giving the Premiership side the lead, Caleb Folan and Colin Larkin scored the crucial goals for the home side to seal a 2-1 victory and pile the pressure on manager Alan Pardew.
Where has it all gone wrong?
Most fingers are pointing at the arrival of the two Argentinian World Cup stars Javier Mascherano and Carlos Tevez on the last day of the transfer window in August. This surprising move was seen as part of a takeover of the club by the investment company MSI and although the machinations behind the scenes were heavily criticised in the media, the arrival of the players was seen as an unalloyed good for West Ham's on-pitch prospects.
Sadly for the Hammers (and for MSI) it hasn't worked out as they imagined. Since Carlos and Javier turned up, West Ham have failed to win a match and after Tuesday's embarrassing cup exit, they have scored only one goal in 758 minutes of football.
The Argies can't be blamed directly for the Chesterfield loss as neither were in the squad, but it's true that neither have shone as expected. The Premiership is not a natural home for Argentinians (to the league's detriment) -- the type of football, weather and language can defeat all but the hardiest of South American travellers. But most of the blame must surely lie with how Alan Pardew has played the pair -- in the last league match (a 1-0 loss away at Spurs) Mascherano played wide midfield and Tevez was on the bench. When Tevez has played, he has been shunted out on the wing -- much to current Argentinian national team coach Alfio Basile's dismay.
It would signal that Pardew is not familiar with the duo's history and may only have seen them play at the World Cup (where Tevez was largely reserved for cameo appearances off the bench out wide).
And here lies one of the biggest problems with the MSI-style of club-management: throwing the best players at a side can upset team spirit, especially if rumours of higher wages for the newcomers are true. It also means an unprepared coach suddenly has players he doesn't want in his squad. Although MSI won a Brazilian league last season using this tactic with a Tevez and Mascherano-fired Corinthians, this season they languish in 16th place, in real danger of relegation.
The fact that it was said MSI were keen to replace Pardew with current-Portugal coach Luiz Felipe Scolari -- a Brazilian famous for his contempt for all things Argentinian -- shows how little long term strategy seems to be behind their takeover. And the party has been joined by Icelandic biscuit-magnate Eggert Magnusson who is keen to thwart the MSI acquisition.
In all likelihood, it is likely that this off-field turmoil is more responsible than the two South Americans for upsetting the Hammers.
And even then, it's more likely that the over-achieving Londoners have come back down to the standard more befitting for a side in only it's second season back in the Premiership. All sides hit slumps and West Ham are certainly mired in one now -- although the season is still young, the rumours surrounding Pardew's future have started to swirl.
Despite their excellent showing last season, Pardew has never been popular with West Ham fans and while the Upton Park board have a reputation of patience with their managers, the modern world of the Premiership means that tolerance is in short supply even at West Ham. When Glenn Roeder was in charge the last time West Ham were relegated in 2003, he lasted two weeks of the new season before being replaced.
Pardew has not been helped with a pre-season injury to main striker Dean Ashton but the lack of reinforcements (outside of the Argentinian surprises) has also been questioned -- the squad still has only one real right back and a dearth of wide players.
The lesson of Ipswich Town in 2000 may be instructive. That newly promoted team finished fifth in their first trip back to the Premiership and had a good run in the next season's UEFA Cup. Sadly for them, and despite keeping their squad together, Ipswich finished bottom of the table the next season.
However, Ashton is due back by the end of the year and once Tevez and Mascherano pick up the pace of English football, the Hammers will have two of the best players in the world.
Trouble is, by then it could be an uphill struggle to avoid relegation and Alan Pardew may not be in charge to see any recovery.
Worrying times for Hammers fans and, with the media vultures circling, for Alan Pardew as well.
