Guest post by Andy
Most Hammers fans would agree that our transfer window, and indeed our start to the season, has been positive, with promising glimpses of what Julen Lopetegui is trying to implement. However, there is still one area of the pitch generating discussion and concern—our number 9 position.
I like Niclas Füllkrug. He strikes me as a wholehearted person and player, and his interview with the club following his signing was as impressive as any I’ve seen from a new arrival. He appeared to genuinely understand the club he was joining, and his line about wanting to play for a team where “the shirt weighs heavy” would certainly have resonated with our passionate fan base. As a person, he comes across as sincere and committed—traits we hold dear in our Hammers idols.
However, there is one attribute that Niclas doesn’t possess, and that’s pace.
Now, pace is not absolutely essential in the modern game. Harry Kane, for example, has become one of the world’s best number 9s without being able to stretch or “run in behind” defences. However, the Premier League nowadays is filled with physical specimens—athletes who will not be bullied or daunted by a big target man. Despite all of Manchester City and Arsenal’s midfield playmakers, their defences are packed with giants… but giants with pace! Never mind their centre-backs, even Arsenal’s full-backs White, Tomiyasu, and Calafiori are well over 6ft tall, and the same could be said of Aké or Gvardiol at Manchester City too.
Haaland is every inch the modern day striker
We are in a different time, and the benefits of a big number 9 who can make up for a lack of mobility by dominating aerially and overpowering possibly smaller defenders are diminished.
Opportunity missed
And so this brings us to Füllkrug. For all his impressive human qualities, his physical attributes, and undoubted finishing ability, Füllkrug lacks the one thing that most, if not every, other Premier League team has in their front man: pace. There’s a feeling among many fans that we missed a golden opportunity to sign Jhon Durán and achieve what some considered to be a potentially “unplayable” front line of Bowen, Kudus, and the Villa man.
Possibly one of the most successful and watchable West Ham teams I’ve seen in my lifetime was the one that Bilic assembled in our last season at the Boleyn. Understandably, much of the praise for the success this team enjoyed was reserved for our midfield maestros Dimitri Payet and Manu Lanzini, but it was the pacey front line that gave us potency. Diafra Sakho and Enner Valencia terrorised defences in a way I hadn’t seen a West Ham forward line do for a long time. We were genuinely a scary proposition for teams, and I’m convinced that this dynamic front line (as much as Payet) was the reason we were able to go away from home and rip up the record books with wins at Arsenal, Manchester City, and a 3-0 win at Liverpool, among others. I always think we are at our best when we have a mobile and interchangeable front line that causes a bit of chaos!
None of this is Füllkrug’s fault, of course. We knew what we were getting, and to be fair to Tim Steidten, he hasn’t got a lot wrong so far in his tenure. However, whereas our other signings have largely been met with universal acclaim, our big number 9’s arrival is one that has divided opinion, even despite his limited game time to date. It’s a shame that for all the positivity of our transfer window, there’s still a feeling among some that we left ourselves just a little bit short of pace in the striking department. But fingers crossed, the likable German proves the doubters wrong because if he does, there’s likely to be few more popular players in our squad!
Did you watch the warm-down all the substitutes did after both our home games?
They had to run as fast as they could up and down the pitch from a standing start.
Although not Usain Bolt Füllkrug got up some great speed. No he can’t do it like Fattonio has in the past.
The problem is, he’s been plonked upfront, for reason’s unknown to me if nobody puts the ball on his head or at his feet more than once, and this isn’t his game.
I have no idea what Jlo has in his plans, but I can’t believe he’s going to treat him like Moyes did Scamacca and Haller. If he does then there was zero point buying him and he’ll want out and I wouldn’t blame him.
I am still being very patient as I am really happy with all our buys, they seem to possess a winning mentality and this is what is required in bucket loads at our club.
It’s the only way a team get’s to the top, or in our case to aim for top 6, 8 at least.
That’s not wishful thinking, it’s what we must demand from the players.
I think this season is going to be one of our best chances to do this with all the clubs in Europe having extra matches and travel.
Let’s hope our players gel and give it a good go. We pay enough money to watch them, and they get a fortune in wages. Earn our respect and their wages. It’s not much to ask.
It is not the strikers fault if we don’t create chances for him . We will find a way , it’s only 3 games in PL
Perhaps Gonzo the problem is your in not understanding what Fullkrug is. Basically an in the box poacher and link up man. We have plenty other players with pace around him but if you are looking for an Antonio replacement you are going to be disappointed.
But I guess you’ll get another half dozen pieces out of this while the international break is on to keep the clickbait ad revenue coming in.
Who would you have not signed to enable us to get Duran, as he was about an extra £15m, and we have clearly reached the limit on PSR given all our loan players in and out.?
Well at the moment, Guilerme looks like a bit of a luxury at 25 mil!
I’m with Gonz’, I think Fullkrug will struggle, but early days… I hope we can evolve a way with him, in and around the box. Plenty to be excited about from Saturday’s game. Our play looked way more fluent without Soucek on the pitch!
Duran is a petulant unproven and at £40 mill+ way over priced so why are people talking like he is Mbappe. Let’s get real here Villa have a quality manager who appears to select players based an ability and this guy can’t get a first team start and before you start quoting he has scored two goals,,, so has Tornado Tom,,,does that make him the next Zidan.
I notice this was a guest post from “Andy” so I assume the post does not necessarily reflect Gonzo’s thoughts? That said, we have all read a lot about what a great job Tim Steidten has done and J-Lo is doing and we are asked to be patient, give them time etc. Well doesn’t the same apply to Fullkrug? He hasn’t started a game yet and has only appeared for 83 minutes across 3 games and in a team that is not chosen to compliment his strengths. Also, immediately before Fullkrug signed, we were making repeated bids for Duran, allegedly up to around the £35M mark but refusing to go the extra £5M. It seems like once again we have missed an opportunity and possibly created another problem by being a little bit short sighted. Regardless, plenty to be excited about and looking forward to a team sheet without Antonio, Coufa, Paqueta and Mavrapanos.
To answer the headline question the pace is with Bowen, Kudus and Summerville.
Maybe Guilherme too and Antonio still has pace. As he’s kind of rubbish these days, I suggest that pace really isn’t as big of a problem as Gonzo suggests. Just something more to get us all clicking onto this site…
The point is the way loppy plays the pace comes from the wings. Fullkrug is not expected to bomb up the wings like an Antonio. Fulkrug is a traditional striker whose role will be to stay in the middle and around the box. Our team have to adapt from the way they are used to playing under Moyes and provide fullkrug with service. Moyes was all about the counter attack but new style should have us further forward in a more passing game where fullkrug link up play will be so much better than a striker where it’s all about their pace. I see fullkrug as more of a Harry Kane, Oliver Giroud type of player.
It’s possible this is why Soler was bought in, to be a. bridge between midfield and. attack so that Fullkrug isn’t isolated, time will tell, he could also play Kudus at no 10, one thing is for sure as a sole striker he is likely to go the way of Haller because as he himself has said he needs players around him for the magic he provides to work, he can create and take chances but rarely without supply or support and those things have initially not been there.
It’s still early days in Lopetegui’s transformation, the high (positionally) full backs might also help with that supply if we can get it right, when looking at the team it feels like we would benefit from three cb’s in a 3 5 2 formation to leave less space and that might benefit Todibo too who looks a bit all over the place, we need to get him performing, if we do we could be a force defensively as both he and Kilman are good going forward with the ball.
This international window will hopefully provide Loppy enough time to drill the defence and work on the offence before the next set of fixtures, especially before Liverpool away in the Cup