Felipe Anderson is in danger of joining Manu Lanzini on the “whatever happened to …” list of out of favour and out of form Hammers.
Fabian Balbuena of course is another but it’s the two so called playmakers – and previously top picks for the team – who are perhaps slipping to squad players despite the manager declaring soon after his arrival how badly he needed to see the skills of both.
Lanzini was an automatic pick at that time but it wasn’t long before Moyes was making it clear the midfielder needed to find his form quickly.
The Brazilian too was urged to show what he was about but after a five week absence he turned in a display against Liverpool which split opinions right own the middle.
The only one that mattered was the manager’s and his one appearances since – despite him probably not being fully match fit at Anfield -was been an injury time appearance against Southampton and 12 minutes against Arsenal. Hmm!
IronsMoyes doesn’t carry passengers and is not a manager who generally looks in the direction of luxury players. He showed that at Manchester United and West Ham with Chicharito.
I don’t personally believe we will see much of either the Argentine or the Brazilian again this season – they really don’t look in any sort of form to engage in relegation battle matches.
Should we survive it’s going to be very interesting to see whether either are around next season!
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Not sure he will start Soucek, has just had an injury alright he had a few minutes against Gooners but doesn’t want to risk him breaking down again. Might play Noble, Snoddy and Rice to start, then bring on Soucek / Fornals / Anderson if more goal threats are required.
In my view West Ham need grafters and battlers on the pitch at this time to survive. Neither Lanzini nor Anderson come under that heading in my book. If Anderson had a 50-50 tackle to go for he would pull out and Lanzini,this season, looks incredibly light weight.So I would say that Snoddy, even Noble will be of more use than those 2.
Moyes has no ideal how to use a flair player. He likes hard working players. This does in theory make you harder to beat, and the impression is we are improving, although results do not reflect this. The reason is that to actually win in this league you need a bit of quality in key moments. Or to compensate this like Sheff United or Burnley you have to push men forward. Moyes has binned the quality and does not attack enough and as for goals from central midfield with Noble there this won’t happen unless a spot kick