No-one can say West Ham are OK right now. Hovering one point above the relegation zone at this stage of the season is not somewhere you want to be.
This time last year West Ham critics were saying the stay near the top couldn’t last. They were saying that without a top striker the club would struggle to maintain its position. But now they’re saying the Hammers are going to struggle to stay in the league. And who can blame them.
When the irons have won we’ve looked less than convincing and some of our best performances have been losses. Ever since the side let a 2-0 lead at home to Watford slip the whole team has looked vulnerable. The new formation has made a more solid outfit but it’s still not perfect. So what is letting the East London side down, according to the stats?
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In Attack
Starting at the front, there really is an issue with finishing the chances. When you haven’t had a striker score (or assist) all season you know that you are getting the bad end of it, and that can’t be down to the manager. Yes he has the responsibility of putting the people in the team, but you do expect them to do their job. At least a little bit anyway.
And then, if that wasn’t bad enough, West Ham have got a real issue with straying offside. Infact, Whoscored.com lists it as one of our two attacking weaknesses statistically. Sakho, Zaza and Antonio are all caught offside regularly and it shows our poor discipline in the area.
It’s not as if the side have created millions of scoring chances by getting behind the defence one on one, so how come they are caught so often in these positions? Zaza is especially guilty of this, as he just seems to stand in an offside position. Just standing waiting for the ball when all it takes is a little care to be in the right place.
At The Back
Unfortunately in defence the weaknesses are still there. The switch to three centre-backs has helped a bit but the weaknesses remain.
The biggest issue, which has been solved by about 50% since the formation switch, is our vulnerability down the wings. West Ham are a very lopsided in defense on the wings, with Antonio currently on the right and Cresswell on the left. As one is a natural wing back and the other a winger it is pretty obvious that the winger is going to find it harder in defence.
You only have to look at the Spurs match to find 3 occasions where the right hand side of the side was cut open. As such, Spurs got 3 goals and won the match. The only way you can solve an issue like this is to go and buy a proper wing back, not stick makeshift players in there.
The other issue the Hammers have is the individual errors at the back. Whether that means simply a needless foul in an important area or giving the ball away cheaply West Ham defenders have managed all types of errors. Once again the Spurs game captured three separate errors, one in each goal. Giving the ball away then failing to stop a simple cross and finally giving away a needless penalty.
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West Ham can try all they want, but unless they address specific errors they will not improve. The stats point to a few different areas which need work, and Slaven Bilic has got a lot to do if he doesn’t want an embarrassing loss at Old Trafford at the weekend.