West Ham Player Review: Goalkeeper Analysis
West Ham’s first month hasn’t gone to plan, but what of the individuals? As we wait out the international break, we put in our first month review of the players.
Being a West Ham fan, or player I imagine, is never too easy a task. We never seem to be out of the media for too long, and the results always swing back and forward along the way. Unfortunately, the results have not squng much, just stuck very much in the off position. So we’re going to review the players.
In our rating system we will be giving marks out of 10, with 5/10 for playing as expected. Whilst some newspapers and the like seem to give 6 or 7 out of 10 for an average display, and may make this seem harsh, we think this makes sense. It also easily allows us here to put the players in opposite categories, for example a 9/10 is as good as a 1/10 is bad.
So, to kick us off, it’s the men between the sticks.
More from Green Street Hammers - West Ham
- Brighton vs West Ham predictions: Can James Ward-Prowse help end the curse?
- West Ham and two Premier League rivals made huge transfer stand
- Lucas Paqueta bet allegations discussed in West Ham and Man City transfer talks
- Bournemouth vs West Ham predictions: Premier League opener amid transfer chaos
- West Ham near Denis Zakaria transfer after final James Ward-Prowse bid
Fabianski – 8/10
Quite simply I think the former Swansea man has been the best player on the pitch so far for the Hammers. He’s made more saves than any other Premier League goalkeeper, joint top with former Hammer Joe Hart. However it can’t be nice making that many saves and still conceding 10 goals in 4 games.
Whilst some will potentially argue for an even higher rating for the Polish stopper, he has yet to pull off a 10/10 display and if that’s because of the defence I’m sorry. However I do recall Rob Green’s performance when we kept out Arsenal at the Emirates, or Adrian’s when Mourinho complained we played 17th century football. Fabianski has been consistently very good, but not quite the 9 or 10 out of 10 yet.
One error I think he did make is I thought he could have done better for Wilson’s goal when we played Bournemouth. Yes it should never have come through to him at all and should have been dealt with by Noble, Balbuena, Ogbonna and Zabaleta, but I don’t think he covered himself in glory with the save.
That being said I am very happy with him in goal. He is a top shot stopper and has far more command over his area than Adrian. So far he has also been consistent as well, something neither Adrian or Randolph could quite manage. I hope others look to him to how they should be playing.
Adrian – 4/10
Although he hasn’t played in the Premier League so far, Adrian’s only game wasn’t exactly great. With AFC Wimbledon only managing one shot on target, and that shot being a goal, it’s not very pretty for the Spaniard.
With the signing of Fabianski doing what most thought Joe Hart would do, Adrian will not get many chances to shine. As our editor wrote, he didn’t exactly grab that opportunity at all. I can’t really mark him down too harshly, because he hasn’t played enough to warrant too much criticism, but I don’t think he would have been happy with his only performance so far.
Next. Time's up for Moral Victories. dark
With the next round of the cup against Macclesfield at the end of the month, Adrian will be desperate to impress. A clean sheet could start to get him consideration for the starting spot, that is is Fabianski’s impressive form drops off at all. If he proves leaky against lower league opposition, Pellegrini won’t be interested in bringing in another headache at Premier League level.