West Ham Should Play 3-4-1-2 to Keep Their Momentum Going

West Ham haven’t started off the season as anybody would have hoped. Even the casual critic and fan will have noticed an unbelievable drop in form and results. West Ham must arrest this. Things have been going better in recent weeks but it’s a long season. Two weeks worth of good results isn’t enough for everybody to relax and start resting on their laurels.

A Recent Uplift

In recent weeks West Ham have moved towards the 3-4-3 formation and that has solidified things although not entirely improved them. A one nil victory over Sunderland isn’t exactly the kind of result you bring home in the Bentley to your model girlfriend. The 2-1 league cup victory over Chelsea might be but lets remember that it was a weakened Chelsea team and we shouldn’t draw too many conclusions from it (though it will still do wonders for the confidence). Thus, while yes it was a smart move for Slaven Bilic to arrest the slump with a change in formation all he has done essentially is halt the fall. Now it is time to dig the pick deeper into the ice and start climbing back up the proverbial mountaintop.

Why 3-4-1-2?

The 3-4-1-2 is a great formation because of what it does in the midfield. It solidifies it in much the same way as a 4-5-1 but offers more passing angles and outlets. Where the 4-5-1 essentially hopes to turn the middle of the park into a muddy scrum 3-4-1-2 offers some brains to go with its brawn. West Ham need to do this because they keep losing the midfield in game after game. Let’s get this straight, midfield, is where the battle is won and lost in football. Right now West Ham are losing the battle and need to solidify their position with simple numbers.

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A solidified four in front of the back three will offer West Ham a solid base from which to operate. The truth is genuine wingers aren’t something that the team have in healthy supply. Sure, Michael Antonio has speed and a loveable gung-ho attitude but it’s not like he’s pegging balls into the box with a snipers accuracy. This is why West Ham simply must play in a more narrow method.

The Players

Dimitri Payet should play in the one behind the striker. As a number 10 he will have the necessary freedom to float in and around the opposing teams defenders and midield looking for space to exploit. He’ll be West Ham’s trequartista in this way. This is the position Alessandro Del Piero practically reinvented for Juventus is the 90’s. He is the player whom the diminutive Frenchman is most similar to. With Payet on the ball and in space suddenly things are very different. He will have two players in front of him drawing defenders onto them thus allowing Payet room to advance and unleash one of his long distance pile drivers. If not they’ll attack Payet and leave room to roam behind them. This could finally help unleash Simone Zaza.

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If West Ham are going to reestablish themselves as European hopefuls like last season Zaza will need to be unleashed and start scoring goals. I’m on the record as saying this and I think that he has the ability to do so. What Simone Zaza has in spades are skills that are all useful in the premier league. He has fire, grit, awareness and a decent enough first touch. In the Premier League you need all of these. Two touches to control the ball is amateur hour. One to control and another to get it moving again with your head on a swivel at all times. This is professional football not Pub League.

Changes Up Front

What Zaza needs however is a strike partner. He and Andy Carroll would have been something to watch. I wouldn’t want to be the defense that had to deal with that mess of awful haircuts and muscle. Unfortunatley, Andy Carroll is again injured and Zaza is on his own which is a waste of his awareness. Strike partners need to work like a rubber band. Constant interaction, pulling and pushing makes tension and eventually at the end of it a goal. Zaza has the physicality and ball playing ability to be a perfect target man what he needs is a poaching speedster to play off of him. What he needs is Fernandes in the second striker role.

Yup, you read that right. Edimilson Fernandes should be playing striker. He has speed in spades and if he were just waiting on the back shoulder of the last defender it would only be a matter of time before Zaza and Payet set him loose.

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Substance over Style?

That attacking trinity could be the key to the formation truly breaking through. Will it be the most elegant football in the world? No, but this isn’t Ajax or AC Milan in the 80’s. It will get West Ham up the table before January when they can reassess who exactly has been in charge of building this squad. That said it could result in some interesting matches. Imagine Kevin De Bruyne and David Silva suddenly without time to operate in midfield. Or Paul Pogba learning again what real English football is about? The 3-4-1-2 will help West Ham tangle with the big boys and turn out some favorable results while also allowing enough breathing room to solidify their position. A bottom half finish isn’t good enough and progress needs to be made, NOW. The 3-4-1-2 is that progress.