Aaron Cresswell declares that “this one game isn’t going to define our season,” but one wonders whether the performance he produced will define his.
The decision to give him the skipper’s armband is difficult to understand when such as Lukasz Fabianski are available as his consistently below par performances are a really worry.
Quite where it went wrong for the left back is difficult to pinpoint but it has made the position one about which every Hammers fans is justifiably worried.
I can only assume that the manager chose to go with what he considered his best defensive option on that side given it was City but the player is in poor form but those who considered it an incorrect decision were proved correct.
With Arthur Masuaku a better attacking option the other solution would have been Ben Johnson who even playing out of position looked better than Cresswell in pre-season.
Right now Cresswell is giving very little and it’s a problem which should have been solved in the window!
For the record the captain for the day’s comments said little we didn’t already know telling https://www.whufc.com/news/articles/2019/august/10-august/cresswell-one-game-wont-define-our-season “This one game isn’t going to define our season.
“We have another game next week that we need to look forward to, capitalise on and take three points from there.
“They were clinical. They’ve had six or seven chances and scored five goals.
“Looking at it from our point of view, we had some good spells but in general it wasn’t good enough.
“It the first half the game was close. Once they got the second and third it was game over. It’s difficult to come back against City, but we will review the game, look at what went wrong and try to put it right next week.”
For Man City’s first goal, Walker started 7 meters behind Cresswell & by the time he overtook him to make the cross he was travelling at 22mph & that is way out of Cresswell’s league, if not most footballer’s league!!
We have 5 major problems..
Problem 1 left back – need to show faith in Masa and stick with him from now on.
Problem 2 right back – need to show faith in Johnson with Zaba as back up.
Problem 3 CM – need to play Fornals as an 8 in midfield with Rice, Fornals will get up and down the pitch.
Problem 4 Right midfield – need to solve this as this is not Fornals. Lets give Antonio a consistent run with Yarmo getting game time.
Problem 5 – we do not have a quality back up keeper
We needed to buy a LB, CDM and another winger with pace in the the summer.
Hopefully at right back Ben Johnson is the answer, Masuaku would be good if we played 5 at the back but in honesty they need support from their wingers in defence, we also need to as MP said foul higher up the pitch to stop teams exploiting our full backs. The whole team has to recognise the weak spots and defend against them, every great team had them also, Zinchenko at city is another Masuaku great going forward clueless in defence.
I don’t think Masuaku or Cress are terrible players but it is an area we could improve if Laxalt is available in January try to get him on a loan to buy deal he is not featuring for AC so they should be open to the idea imho.
I don’t like the January transfer window but I’m willing to change my mind if it provides us with a quality LB and a DM .
I, like most fans read lots of different posts and forums on our club and each is entitled to their own opinion. I do agree Cresswell is not to the quality and standard he showed in his first season or two with us. However, I do feel that some of the criticism levelled at him is unfair.
All my point is really is that with such attaching players in front of him he is sometimes left exposed to two v ones. We all want him to overlap etc, but he leaves himself even more exposed to attack and criticism.
I also think that Arthur has had only a few good games and he seems to have been lorded up somewhat!
I do think we need another left back to push both Cresswell and Arthur and eventually dispose one if not both.
But please, can we put things into perspective with both Cresswell AND Arthur’s ability!
Only my opinion though!
Why does everyone seem to forget that Arthur Massuaku was probably our stand-out player only a couple of seasons back? He’s got skill, pace and a good delivery, and defensively his statistics aren’t as bad as some fans make out. Forget about last year – Make him our permanent first choice LB and watch him shine again!
I seriously don’t remember that. I remember him having one good game against Chelsea I think followed by everyone singing a silly song about him. Then I recall him being pretty rubbish for a while until a couple of average performances in some dead rubber games at the end of last season.
Well we all were all shouting as loudly as we could hoping the club would hear us and spend out on a quality first choice left back. In the end we got Cardoso for peanuts and I hope he’ll turn out to be a savvy purchase, he’s left footed so presumably could play left back but he’s young, as is Ben Johnson who would be out of position. Quality wing backs more than any other position would be the best investment the club could make, unfortunately it’s too late now, hopefully we won’t be so woeful against lesser quality teams, but lets face it, every team we come up against will be looking to exploit our full backs.
We all know what went wrong we did not have a good DM to stop the oppositions attacks
Plus we need a left back & I think Wilshere is too slow for the prem.
Spot on Claret, Wilshere is too slow and not PL standard anymore. I hope it does not take Pelle 4 games to realise this and he sets us up better for the next game.
Maybe Pellegrini doesn’t agree with you.
I really worry to see a top manager in Pelle not seeing these things on the training ground. Fredericks, Cresswell and Wilshere have all good attributes but they lack certain attributes that are needed in the PL. We have mentioned Wilshere and his inability to keep up with the play. Lets take Fredericks there is no point in him running the 100m in 10.5 secs and he can’t cross the ball. We did not prioritise a CDM because Pelle thinks Wilshere is the player to do this job. I 100% disagree with him. We should never have signed Jack Wilshere, fact. From what you have seen do you agree with Pelle that Wilshere is the perfect partner for Rice ?
I’d need to see them play together enough to make a judgement. I thought he performed well in the first half and I think he’s an excellent player, whether he should be playing next to Dec is another question. I think we need an athletic midfielder like Ndidi but we didn’t buy one so it is what it is.
I believe Carbosa can play at LB.
Nope
He has played left back early in his career I think Hugh.
Told he’s a Diop type player 32
Play 3 central defenders and make the back positions wing backs the third central defender covers the gaps I dont see the midfielders tracking back to much in the system we use at the moment to help out its all tora tora tora?????
Can’t help but think we would be much better off playing 3-5-2 with our current personnel. Also, I wonder if it would be worth trying Cardoso at CDM alongside Rice. He’s young i know but he.s quick, sharp in the tackle and launches attacks quickly. Just a thought. COYI.
I think three at the back was the key to our survival under Moyes – and if Slav had stuck to it he might not have been fired. But under Pelle it wont happen – good idea or not, its not the way he plays – we just have to wait and see how teh season pans out