Aaron Cresswell may again be left on the bench against Wolves despite the manager declaring that he did very well against AFC Wimbledon on Tuesday night.
There has been a long ongoing debate among the fans as to which of him and Arthur Masuaku is the best option for the manager.
Some believe that Cressies’ the better defender of the pair although his outing against AFC was full of positive runs on a night when the Hammers attacking intention was rampant having gone behind.
Pellegrini though insists that Masuaku is also doing very well.
The manager said: “I need to analyse the performance of all my players. Unfortunately with Cresswell he’s had a long injury in pre-season.
“If we see the game he played on Tuesday, he did very well, but Arthur is doing very well too. As a manager, I have to choose who to play.
Moyes saw that MAsaku was a poor defender & used him as a winger hopefully the penny will drop for MP sooner rather than later & once Cresswell is fully fit he will play him at left back
His other decision is at centre half.Surely time to pair Rice and Diop(its the long term partnership for years to come).It seems a no brainer.Oggy is very ropey and Balbuena is finding his feet still.Rice was our best player after Arnie last season.Unfair to throw him into the midfield role against Liverpool and then drop him.
Cresswell has less pace than Masuaku but gives a lot more with the final ball aswell as defensively. Not sure h64 about Rice and Diop they looked poor together in pre-season.
Cresswell has to start against wolves at left back. He’s more consistent and just a better player. I’m stick of this Arthur never gives the ball away song. Needs to stop.. I think rice and Diop at the back. I don’t think pellegrini really has a clue at the moment about his team of terms of the best 11.
He has been using them in wrong games if you ask me. He has been playing Masuaku in games where we need to defend more and Cresswell in games where we can be more attacking. Just needs to switch it round.
Mind you, Cresswell is the man for games against teams that are hard to break down also because of the quality of his crosses, corners and free kicks.
Masuaku is better when we are against teams that you can run at and get in behind that way. Teams that are maybe less physical, more ball on the ground pass it round type of teams.
I don’t think either of them are particularly good LBs. Cresswell looks better on the left side of 3 central defenders and Masuaku is clearly better as an offensive player. I would love to see Arthur in a more central role with no real defensive responsibilities, in my opinion he’s the best player in our squad for taking on an opponent and going past him, imagine the problems he could cause running at central defenders who were unable to channel him down the left side? Just a thought………..