Yet here we are, in October, and the Hammers are staring down the barrel of the gun. Payet remains brilliant, but his dazzling footwork has not been able to save Slaven Bilic’s side from some truly atrocious results. With nearly a fifth of the season gone, West Ham is 17th and has won just once, a frankly dire 1-0 victory over Bournemouth in its first Premier League fixture at the club's new home.
Europe was treated as little more than an afterthought but defeat to Astra Giurgiu in the Europa League qualifiers brought ignominy, and the performance at London Stadium was emblematic of a quite appalling season thus far – West Ham was aimless, muddled and seemingly without a leader.