CandH blogger Allen Cummings thinks he has come up with a strike partnership which can solve David Moyes’ problems up front
This time last week, with Arnie and Manu flying, all the talk was about whether we should keep Chicharito or whether he was fast becoming surplus to requirements.
After the dramatic events of last weekend the conversation now has to be not “do we keep him”, but who do we play with him for the immediate future namely the cup tie against Wigan this coming Saturday.
Ayew or Martinez are the obvious options. In fact they are probably our only options. So if the manager goes for two up, as I believe he should given the opposition, who will get the nod?
To be honest I’d never actually seen him play, and I suspected many of those on social media and in various football forums calling for his inclusion, hadn’t either. They’d simply latched onto the name and joined the throng.
As so often happens, particularly with our club. He was definitely flavour of the month for a while. But having had the opportunity to see him recently first hand in the senior team, I’ve been not only surprised but very impressed. Enough to fight his corner for Saturday’s game.
He never stopped running and working the angles all night, A thankless task sometimes. He stretched the Shrews’ defence whenever and wherever he could and his hold-up play was good too. Also his ability to bring others into play belied his lack of senior experience.
It was down to his persistence deep into extra time, not giving up on a difficult bouncing ball, that provided the assist for Burke’s match-winning goal. It was also noticeable that while Ayew was withdrawn that night, Moyes chose to leave the youngster on the pitch.
There are plenty of rough edges of course, but I believe Martinez’ unselfish work-rate and greater mobility would be a far better foil for Hernandez.
Ayew and Hernandez have never looked happy together in my opinion andnever really hinted that they would compliment each other or forge a partnership.
I have to admit I’ve never been certain what Ayew actually brings to the team or where his best position is likely to be. On the other hand a Hernandez/ Martinez partnership could work. We’ll never know unless it’s tried.
Little Pea likes a partner to do the running and chasing for him, doing the donkey work, in other words, while he does what he does best, latch onto the bits and put them away.
Martinez is capable of doing that and Moyes has recently given youth its head. Wigan as the opposition could be the perfect platform to experiment. What’s to lose?
The Cup is still a luxury compared to the main job in hand, staying in the Premier League. Win and it’s a bonus. Win well and it could be the short-term solution Moyes is looking for to get us through this difficult period.