Pellegrini has so many issues to sort out
ClaretandHugh follower John Shetcliffe has put together an analysis of many problem areas in the Hammers style of play and comes to some brutal conclusions on where we need to go from here.
By John Shetcliffe
First and foremost it is pretty obvious that Seb Haller is too isolated as lone target man!
Also I think there’s a need to accept that Mark Noble plays too far upfield without the pace to recover against today’s Premier League opponents. He slows the Hammers’ tempo too and cannot sustain a full 90 minutes!
Masuaku – Time to say goodbye
We have for too long most needed a central defensive midfielder who can play alongside Declan Rice and make penetrative passes forwards (like Alex Song did) to improve the penetrative speed and accuracy of our play.
Our results early season flattered to deceive because in most games Lukasz Fabianski saved us from defeats before we enjoyed a lead!
The defence is poor with Arthur Masuku at fault most games he plays for an opposition goal or two. He gave Benard time for a pirouette in our box before Jimemez was negligently beaten at his near post. We need to dispense with proven poor defender Masuku.
Manu Lanzini and Felipe Anderson were good in earlier matches, but lack consistency. Jack Wilshire cannot play at central defensive midfield anymore, but his passing ability might be better deployed in the 10 role and utilise Lanzini’s energies in a deeper role.
We need another Alex Song
The Hammers start every match this season slowly – why not warm them up vigourously? And we are generally outfought in effort because our players are too lightweight against high energy, pressing, robust teams like Sheffield United!
The players are often lethargic until we go behind and when we concede one goal we often concede two which demonstrates a lack of concentration especially before and after half time and and towards the final whistle.
Pellegrini needs an expert defensive coach ASAP and to get the right combination in midfield because when we lead 1- 0; we rarely finish opponents off with a second soon after, which leaves us defensively vulnerable to comebacks as Palace demonstrated.
For matches against high energy pressing teams the Hammers need to significantly up our pressing energy levels and speed of play instead of playing it across every member of the back four. We need to get the ball up the wings sooner to our players in space instead of when they are closed down!
We must battle Sheffield United to achieve our share of possession and then use our superior players to score the goals with higher tempo football which has been proven but only appeared in glimpses to secure our wins this season.