West Ham rebuilt their Championship side around a handful of ‘senior pro’s’ who they retained after relegation. Whilst Daniel Kretinsky may have claimed – somewhat prematurely as it turned – out that the club did not need to sell players, sixteen departures had severely weakened the squad so that, even with summer arrivals, there’s now a heavy reliance on a few PremierLeague survivors.
None more so than on captain Bowen’s shoulders.
How reliant the Hammers are on Jarrod Bowen is evident from the Standard’s statistics. West Ham cannot do without him.
As the telegraph.co.uk points out, West Ham are desperately reliant on Bowen’s output this season.
“Bowen has had 25 shots in six matches, at least 14 more than any of his team-mates. Only two other players have reached double figures in that department.”
Which is a pretty stark warning for Nuno as the work load mounts up.
West Ham, as the statistics show, without Bowen will be a toothless, threat-free side which opponents will not fear at all.
Somehow the Irons’ manager has to manage Bowen’s minutes once the International break is out of the way and the games come thick and fast, for unlike Solomon’s understudy Edwin Austvø, there appears no suitable right-sided attacker who can fill in for Bowen.
Venezuelan winger Keiber Lamadrid has been tried on the left and in central midfield in pre-season but so far has managed just over 20 minutes of competitive action this season so is obviously not in Nuno’s plans.
The Hammers need a solution to give Bowen a break or they’ll risk running him into the ground – with disastrous consequences for the club’s promotion aspirations.
Not sure I’d want a non scoring Pablo in the team when Bowen is injured / rested …Plenty of other players with a goal in them at this level, though ..
How many times has this already been said unfortunately Nuno never listened.
They were in for Largie Ramazini late in window but never followed it up.
Concentration was on left side needed player to play across all front positions.
Another was Sorba Thomas neither would have broke the bank.
9 other players have scored goals apart from Bowen this season so far. Bowens scored maybe 5? Sure there’s been about 15 or more goals from other players. So we’re not totally reliant on him in my opinion although obviously he has a massive influence and is a big part of things it’s not quite as clear cut as that.