It’s fair to say that West Ham’s three best attacking players last season were Jarrod Bowen, Lucas Paquetá, and Mohammed Kudus. In many respects, this attacking trio was probably the main reason why the club’s record of goals conceded didn’t turn out to be catastrophic.
While West Ham’s defence was in relegation form, the attack was top-level and helped the team out of many tough situations.
It’s therefore somewhat concerning to see all three players struggling this season. Yes, it’s early days, and it’s important not to rush judgment on new Hammers head coach Julen Lopetegui. Fans have just five competitive games to assess the team’s play so far, which isn’t a huge barometer.
However, it’s reasonable to suggest that Lopetegui hasn’t managed to get the best out of his attackers in these initial matches. Whilst the defence has improved, things aren’t quite working at the other end of the pitch.
Lopetegui struggling to get best from attackers
Lopetegui isn’t getting the best out of Bowen, Kudus, and Paquetá, which is a concern. These aren’t new players—they don’t need time to acclimatise to the Premier League or the club. Paquetá and Kudus are mere shadows of the players who were dominant in claret and blue last season. Bowen and Kudus, in particular, seem to start games slowly, only finding their rhythm midway through the second half.
It’s evident that the current tactics aren’t bringing out the best in these players, who expressed excitement about playing in a more attacking system at the start of the season. One has to wonder whether Lopetegui can adapt his tactics to suit the club’s most talented attackers.
Lopetegui has a puzzle to solve with West Ham’s talented attackers
I remain hopeful that the Spaniard can get the best out of his talented trio. He has a week on the training ground to implement his ideas without the distraction of players being away on international duty. While we shouldn’t expect a complete transformation from the Hammers’ new management team, it would be good to see some signs of recovery.
For the first time yesterday I felt genuinely perplexed and somewhat concerned.
He’d had two weeks to wirk with those players not away and started Soucek and Antonio.
OK, there may be an element if incoming players fitness, introduction to Prem league. But I think everybody saw yesterday’s first half display coming a mile off. There was most definitely a better starting 11 to have picked notwithstanding the above which was clearly going to result in what we witnessed.
Well to most people anyway.
Persisting with players that can’t play a passing game is wasting time. Like Martin I’m of the opinion that we’re very likely to lose Kudus next summer and Paqueta too one way or another.
We’re five games into somewhere in the 40 odd games we’ll have this season. Allow at least another five for patience sake. Minus another 10 for injuries to one or two of the mentioned trio as we go through the season. I think it’s fair to say Lopetegui needs to get a wriggle on. He has a left winger now to create balance which will bring an improvement on last season, if selected.
To find quality replacements for Kudus and Paqueta, should we lose them European qualification is highly important. So enough with the blind patience in keeping quality talent on the bench while those that can only play turgid football are in the starting lineup, and allow patience for players that have the ability to get European qualification.