It would be fair to say that West Ham’s £20 million striker Pablo has been something of a victim of the club’s decision to sack Nuno Espírito Santo. As every Hammers fan knows, Nuno was a big fan of the Brazilian, who towards the end of his reign had moved to the top of the pecking order ahead of both Taty Castellanos and Joël Piroe.
Unfortunately for the former Gil Vicente forward, as soon as Scott Parker arrived, he dropped out of the squad altogether and didn’t appear to be anywhere near the first team. Pablo was absent from the matchday squads against both Cardiff City and Blackburn Rovers, despite having been a regular selection under the previous manager.
There are two possible reasons for this, in my opinion. The first, and probably most obvious, is that Parker simply doesn’t deem him good enough to warrant a first-team squad place ahead of Piroe or Castellanos. The second could be the Championship’s squad eligibility requirements, with Soungoutou Magassa returning to the picture and potentially leaving Pablo as the overseas-trained player to miss out.
West Ham’s Forgotten Striker Deserves Another Look
Now, I’m not going to sit here and pretend to be Pablo’s biggest fan. That would be disingenuous of me, because I’ve been critical of his finishing, overall technique and I still don’t believe he scores enough goals.
But let’s be fair, neither does Taty Castellanos, yet it always seems to be poor old Pablo who takes the brunt of the blame. Whatever his shortcomings in front of goal, nobody could reasonably question his work rate, which was clearly one of the reasons Nuno valued his pressing and willingness to chase lost causes.
The Brazilian could now be one of the unexpected beneficiaries of West Ham having so many players away on international duty. As things stand, Parker doesn’t have enough senior players available to put out a balanced eleven, even in a training match, which could provide Pablo with an opportunity to impress.
With Piroe representing Suriname and both of West Ham’s left-wing options, Manor Solomon and Edvin Austbø, also away with their countries, Parker has considerably fewer attacking players to work with than he would ordinarily expect.
Taty and Pablo will need to perform in training
Could Pablo Win Over Scott Parker?
It could therefore be that Pablo has a couple of weeks to impress his new boss, which in terms of effort and application I’ve little doubt he’ll do. The real question is whether Parker believes the striker possesses the necessary technique to operate within his preferred system.
After all, hard work should be a prerequisite rather than a reason for anybody to get into the team. And given Parker’s drive and intensity, I suspect everybody will be working hard once he has the opportunity to properly implement his methods.
But with West Ham’s pressing, or lack of it, also under the microscope, it could well be that Parker eventually chooses to select Pablo for exactly the same reasons Nuno Espírito Santo always did.
Pablo might not be the most technically gifted striker at the club, and his goalscoring record certainly leaves plenty to be desired. Nevertheless, if Parker wants somebody prepared to harass defenders, chase down possession and lead the press from the front, he already has a player who has demonstrated a willingness to do precisely that.
Whether that’s enough to earn him another chance remains to be seen, but the international break could provide an unexpected opportunity for a striker who appeared to have been completely forgotten.