Mavropanos an option
West Ham fans always flinchingly emerge from behind their sofa’s following an international break. The thing many of us fear during the Premier League hiatus, is of course an injury to international players.
Whilst the Hammers appear to have been spared a cataclysmic injury list, there are one or two concerns. James Ward Prowse is rumoured to have missed Mondays training session, but is expected to return today. Edson Alvarez may have escaped injury whilst away with Mexico, but he doesn’t return to the UK until Thursday evening.
However, the most concerning was Vladimir Coufal’s exclusion from the Czech team which played Hungary. Coufal is an international regular under manager Jaroslav Silhavy, so his absence from the squad is somewhat troubling. The right back has been a key component to the Hammers impressive start to the season. His potential unavailability ahead of the Man City clash is a problem, but David Moyes isn’t short of solutions.
Mavropanos an option? David Moyes could do worse than select the versatile Greek player should Vladimir Coufal be injured.
The obvious candidate is Ben Johnson, who is a natural right back. Although positionally the Hammers graduate would make sense, Moyes deployed Thilo Kehrer at right back towards the end of last season. The German all-rounder certainly deserves an opportunity to start, but the manager does have another option.
Step forward Konstantinos Mavropanos. The Greek international scored twice for his country, before returning to West Ham this week. He may be a central defender by trade, but he’s operated at full back before, and looks decent. He’s fast, strong, technically gifted and has a keen eye for goal. Whether Moyes considers him to be a viable option is another matter, but The Hammers do now have genuine competition for places.