By CandH’s top blogger Allen Cummings
It was a case of ‘job done’ at the London Stadium last night as West Ham assured themselves of top spot in their Europa Conference league and guaranteed further lucrative European football in 2023. A comfortable if not spectacular victory achieved by a much changed starting 11 – with one name in particular standing out – Nayef Aguerd.
Aguerd was the first of the summer signings made by David Moyes as he looked to strengthen and rebuild his side. But ironically he is the last to join the re-shaped squad in a fully competitive capacity.
In Nayef’s case it’s been an enforced delayed introduction, but in other cases it’s been the manager’s choice to only slowly and gradually introduce our new arrivals into the side.
The one exception to that slowly-slowly approach has been Thilo Kehrer – our summer signing from French giants Paris St Germain.
With Thilo it’s been the complete opposite – he was literally thrown in at the deep end almost from day one. Kehrer was signed from the French outfit on the 17th August and 24 hours later found himself in the squad to face Viborg in a Europa Conference qualifying game – and actually came on to join the action in the 66th minute in place of the departing Angelo Ogbonna.
Since then Kehrer has been a virtual ever-present in the side – playing mostly in the centre of defence, but more recently he’s also been used by Moyes at right back, a position he’s occupied for his German national side.
Thilo has quickly established himself on the field as a vocal voice as well as a strong and fully committed defender. That in turn has endeared him to the West Ham faithful.
But that’s one area of his game that he might have to reign back on. He can have a tendency to jump-in a little too eagerly sometimes. Trying to win every ball, when sometimes it might be better to play more of a waiting game, to contain the problem rather than make a reckless challenge that could be costly.
When Bournemouth introduced Kieffer Moore last Sunday Kehrer engaged in his own little battle with the big Welshman – which was exactly what Moore wanted to provoke. It resulted in Thilo giving away a couple of needless free kicks in dangerous areas. Offering the opposition, a possible way back into the game. That won’t have been lost on Moyes or his coaches I’m sure.
Thilo is clearly a class act – he’s already proving a bargain at the price we paid for him, given that PSG paid around 37m Euros for his services in 2018 and we got him for around a third of that price.
His versatility will be invaluable as Moyes reshapes his defence once Aguerd is fully fit and back permanently. One replaced the other last night – but when they are teamed together they’ll help form a formidable and solid foundation at the back – the perfect base for the team to move forward with confidence and assurance.
Well Allen we have certainly signed two good players here – personally I would prefer that we tend towards a back three of footballing centre backs with two wing backs, rather than two in DCM. That we we can fill the midfield and spread the play on counter attack rather than the current pedestrian playout and huge gap between DCM’s and forward to players. Ball retention much more assured that way I feel and it puts the striker in the penalty box earlier rather than in build up wide play.
I’m clearly missing something with Kehrer. Yes, pretty decent value for what we paid for him but I think he’s pretty bang average. Poor decision making, generally not up to the speed of the prem. Bit of a liability. Maybe a better option at RB once Aguerd is up and running. I think the solidity of just getting Daws back for a couple of games showed his shortcomings.