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West Ham lost 2-1 to Charlton at the weekend, and pretty much every player was in the firing line of online criticism following the game. Mads Hermansen was dragged for his less-than-stellar attempt to save the visitors’ opener. Konstantinos Mavropanos was torn apart for his involvement in the Addicks’ second. Even captain Jarrod Bowen was called out for not stepping up to take a last-minute penalty, instead leaving the ball to Taty Castellanos, who hit the post from twelve yards. All of the above were worthy of criticism, as were a few other senior players. However, after three games of the season, one player has stood out as just not being at the standard required so far – Ollie Scarles. The young left-back didn’t necessarily make any costly mistakes against Charlton, after conceding a penalty late on against Burnley in the league opener. But his inability to provide a decent cross to the Irons’ attackers was infuriating. Furthermore, the 20-year-old was getting so high up the pitch that he was leaving his teammates stranded in transition, leaving the Hammers extremely exposed. I have seen many supporters leaping to Scarles’ defence over the last few weeks, as has been the case with Mohamadou Kanté, who had a woeful showing on Saturday and has been wildly inconsistent despite moments of brilliance. Scarles hasn’t particularly impressed me in any game so far this season, but this isn’t just a piece where I bash the full-back, who has shown promise since his debut in the UEFA Conference League four years ago. Over the last few days, I’ve wondered about our academy players – do we hold them in too high a regard? I feel like now that we are in the Championship, we are desperately seeking the next crop of young “local lads” to take their chances when promoted to the first team. The sales of players like Freddie Potts and George Earthy have divided opinion. I was disappointed to see Earthy go, but would he have made that big of a difference to us this season? I’m more annoyed that we are selling yet another player. Our squad is certainly weaker without Potts, but I was happy enough for us to let him go for £10 million, truth be told. Likewise, I saw a rumour the other day that the Hammers could be selling young midfielder Preston Fearon, to which I responded, “I can’t cope.” One or two people asked me, “why not?”, and I had to consider why I had this knee-jerk reaction. Ultimately, West Ham fans are a hugely sentimental bunch, for better and for worse. We will make players feel loved if they perform well, but that often clouds our judgment. Some of the Irons’ most beloved players of recent years were held onto for too long – it was bad business. I think this mentality also applies to the academy players. Additionally, we cling onto our past successes and desperately try to replicate them. For years, we tried to discover the next Dimitri Payet, the next Jesse Lingard. Now, we’re trying to produce the next Declan Rice – an academy graduate who takes the captain’s armband and takes the footballing world by storm. What I’m trying to say here is that these young lads aren’t immune from criticism just because they are young academy lads, many of whom are local to the area. Of course it is nice to see academy players come through, but they need to be held accountable when they don’t perform. That Lewis Orford lad has looked pretty decent, though. 😉