The left back position at West Ham has become a bit of a problem. Arthur Masuaku has shown he is more of a left sided winger than a left back and his defensive frailties were shown up yet again as he stood by as he allowed Murray to score again against the Hammers.
Manuel Pellegrini doesn’t seem to rate Aaron Cresswell and he doesn’t seem to regained his previous form as a Hammer. I am sure Pellegrini will insist that the board dip in the transfer market in January to buy in a new young first choice left back but he has a more pressing dilemma what to do between now and January.
He has got limited options but one obvious option is to try Angelo Ogbonna in the left back role with Issa Diop and Fabian Balbeuna cementing their positions as the first choice centre back pairing.
Ogbonna started his career as a left back and as a left footed player has covered that position for a number of teams including Juventus and West Ham. Will he get his chance against Spurs?
I don’t think Pelegrini doesn’t rate him, it just gave Masuaku the benefit of the doubt while Cresswell was injured and his form was good enough to keep Cressie out. He has now reverted to his usual casual defensive mode, so Cressie must come back.
I am of course a supporter of Cresswell, so I don’t think we have a problem, except we need to replace Mausaku at left-back so we have squad depth.
It’s such a pity that Vashon Neufville is always injured because he could otherwise be the back-up we need.
I agree Sean, I am not sure about Oggy as a left back, I know he tried that position a couple times for us when Cressie was out but he didn’t convince, all teams this season have targetted that space between left back and left cb and most have found success in a variety of different ways, I find it odd that any left back would be completely unaware of their cb partner and furthermore ignore opposition players in the box as Masuaku frequently does, I really like him in the position with a back 5 then Oggy can slide over but in a back 4 he is a liability. Cresswell until January should get the nod, he is also more likely to get assists than Masuaku who for all his undoubted technical ability with the ball at his feet doesn’t produce many key passes. Will be interesting to see what he does against the Spuds they are not actually a team that gets behind you very often.