An elite attack starting to click? Grading West Ham’s Attackers

A tale of two months may be a more appropriate name, but West Ham’s attack has turned on with some secondary scoring in the past month. Arnautovic is as good as always but with some extra help coming from the wings, West Ham looks a dangerous and elite attacking team.

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 West Ham players in opposite categories, for example, a 9/10 is as good as a 1/10 is bad.

Wingers

Felipe Anderson: 7.5/10

Previous: 5/10

Felipe Anderson’s previous ranking was based on him contributing away from the scoresheet and away from the opposing net, but he’s added a goal to his repertoire now, hence the improvement. What a goal it was, too. Anderson’s first West Ham and Premier League goal was a beauty back heel flick passed David de Gea on a low cross from Pablo Zabaleta. Anderson has always been a player that would threaten the goal whether with scoring or assisting and now that he has one of each he’s proven he can do it in this league.

What is more impressive for Felipe Anderson is his ability to dictate play. Statistically in the Premier League Anderson ranks 7th in dribbles, 7th in chances creates, and 7th in tackles, and is the highest ranked forward in that group. Anderson has been slow to get on the scoresheet but he’s been working his fuzzy hair to the scale in every game he’s been in.

The front three is a bit scary now that Anderson and Yarmolenko have woken up. Combined with Arnautovic at striker there are few front threes who can rival the skill and talent West Ham have.

Stats:

Games: 8
Goals: 1
Assists: 1
Passes: 357 (44.63 passes per match avg.)
Big chances created: 1
Crosses: 38 (37% accuracy)
Through balls: 6
Accurate long balls: 18
Shots: 7 (3 on target)
Big chances missed: 0
Tackles: 27 (48% success)
Interceptions: 11
Recoveries: 54
Duels: 60-55

Andriy Yarmolenko: 7/10

Previous: 3/10

A drastic boost for Andriy Yarmolenko but he wasn’t even a Premier League player last time he was graded! Yarmolenko will take shifts off, look lazy at times, and not track back as far as you’d like, but he is a true forward and when he gets the ball on his left foot, watch out. He scored a brace in his first Premier League match against Everton, received Man of the Match in a 0-0 draw with Chelsea, and forced an own goal against Manchester United. Safe to say, the sleeping giant is awake now.

A bromance appears to be blossoming between Marko Arnautovic and Andriy Yarmolenko too which is actually pretty important when it comes to on-pitch performances. Arnautovic is playing with wingers for the first time since he’s been moved to striker, and for a man who loves scoring as much as Arnie does, he really needs to trust someone if he’s going to pass the ball to them. Yarmolenko has this trust with his striker.

He may drive you nuts at times when he’s on the pitch but his nose for the net is evident which should prove valuable for West Ham’s climb up the table. He brings that elite goalscoring skill to the right wing and is cemented now as a starter.

Stats:

Games: 8
Goals: 2
Assists: 0
Passes: 185 (23.13 average per match)
Big chances created: 1
Crosses: 9
Shots: 9 (3 on target)
Big chances missed: 1
Tackles: 4
Interceptions: 2

Robert Snodgrass: 6/10

Previous: 6/10

Pretty generous scores here, but Snodgrass has been West Ham’s most consistent player effort-wise and is been a good pro taking his bench demotion with the rise of Yarmolenko. Snodgrass also received his second international call-up to Scotland this season, and despite missing match time with an ankle injury the honor of a call-up and duty of being a veteran leader is still important.

Snodgrass featured as a starter in West Ham’s 8-0 win over Macclesfield Town. He basically ran the offense of the team, coordinating passing, organizing the squad, and netting two goals along the way. It was awesome to see the Scotsman finally finding the back of the net for West Ham after the mountains of criticism he has unjustly received. He has been instrumental in West Ham settling down and will likely get into the goals at the Premier League level, too.

Michail Antonio: 3/10

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Previous: 3/10

Objects in the picture above are faster than they appear. In all seriousness, what has happened to our once pacey winger Michail Antonio? The blazingly quick and strong like bull winger has become a one-and-done sprinter with no finish all of the sudden. He had ample opportunity to make an impact on the team and claim the starting right wing job but he doesn’t appear to have any sort of will to succeed in his game anymore.

Mentally, his goal against Macclesfield Town was probably a needed boost, however, the competition he faced was short of elite and a goal was more than expected for Antonio.

There isn’t much left to say for Antonio at this point. I believe Pellegrini has lost any faith he had in him now and a January move is likely at this point. Well, at least we’ll have the memories of his form in the last season at Upton Park, right?