West Ham’s starting lineup were exposed for having players who either don’t have the skill they used to or are just along for the ride. Cat’s out of the bag now, however, and West Ham needs to cut ties with passenger players to move forward.
How am I supposed to tell my kids that Chicharito missed this?!
The first of the passenger players is fairly easy to identify. We were all excited when West Ham announced the signing of Javier Hernandez to lead our line at the London Stadium, but his performances since then have left us scratching our heads. West Ham needed a reliable, Premier League proven striker and thought they had acquired that, but instead, they got a disinterested past his prime player.
In his first season with the Hammers, Chicharito scored eight goals and added one assist in 28 games. He was extremely unreliable and eventually fell out of favor with Bilic and then David Moyes due to unavailability due to injury and inability to play as a solo striker. This season he only has one assist in Premier League action through six games.
On the pitch against Spurs there was no intensity from the former star striker. Chicharito was always known as a fox in the box who would slink away from coverage and bang in a loose ball in the area. He had the opportunity to this on a free kick the Felipe Anderson floated into the box. The ball fell to Chicharito behind all the defenders but he couldn’t control the ball which hit his chest and rolled to the keeper.
He was given the benefit of the doubt after the Noble red card slashed any chance for a normal, attacking game and was started in the Spurs cup match. Once subbed off alongside Pedro Obiang for Arnautovic and Perez the game transformed for the Irons. West Ham were pressuring and holding up the ball throughout an onslaught of attack, something that didn’t happen with Chicharito on the pitch.
I’d be very surprised if he was on West Ham come the end of January, a decision likely to be mutual.