What West Ham can learn from Newcastle’s win at Burnley

Newcastle have strung together three consecutive wins with their latest coming at Turf Moor against Burnley. While the game was soundly in hand for Newcastle, the Magpies were shakey when attacked and failed to turn their statistical advantage into a decisive win. Here is the breakdown of where and how West Ham can expose them.

Formation

It’s an uncertain thing for Rafa Benitez’s team; last week Newcastle set up with wingbacks and three central defenders but weeks prior have played with a flat back four. With their top two centrebacks, Lejuene and Lascelles, out injured Benitez clogged up the defensive zone with an extra CB and added wingbacks to give perimeter support.

I don’t expect this formation to be used for West Ham, though, as Newcastle have massive returns coming from their injured list. Jamaal Lascelles, Jonjo Shelvey, and Yoshinori Muto all were full participants in practice this week, suggesting a return to their 4-4-1-1 formation.

Against Burnley, Newcastle used their wingbacks as extra wide wingers who swooped in to attack Joe Hart’s goal. DeAndre Yedlin was on his natural right side but Benitez used Matt Ritchie, a right midfielder, as his left wingback. Despite their positions, both were extremely active in the attack inside Burnley’s penalty area.

With Paul Dummett, their defacto starting left-back, still injured Ritchie could see more action as a fullback, or one of Benitez’s young centre-halves could fill in in that position.

Look for Shelvey ad Mo Diame to patrol central midfield, Kenedy to run the left flank, Ritchie to be on the right (or even Ki or Muto) and Ayoze Perez ahead of the mid-four out letting to Salomon Rondon up top.

The Newcastle Fulcrum

One player stuck out against Burnley for Newcastle, and it wasn’t their goal scorer. It was midfielder Mo Diame. At 31 years of age, Diame is running around like a man a decade younger. He is a stocky, physical specimen and closes down the opposition immediately when they receive the ball. He was a game changer against Burnley and helped his team climb back from negative possession stats, lesser than impressive passing, and fewer shots on target.

Diame should get his battery-mate and fellow physical midfielder Jonjo Shelvey back this week after he made the bench against Burnley following a calf injury against Watford. With both players likely to start it should be a chippy affair calling on Declan Rice and probably Mark Noble to step up and batter them back.

The Newcastle Attack Plan

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

It’s not dissimilar to West Ham’s plan when Andy Carroll is fit, but it has a few added elements of danger. Firstly, though, let’s address the target man. Salomon Rondon is a player who can change the game with his proficiency in heading the ball. He is strong and physical which makes him a handful for central defenders, and is also quite talented with his feet.

The silver lining for West Ham is that the centre-back pairing of Diop and Balbuena thrive on aerial battles and can essentially limit Rodon’s effectiveness by dominating the air and clearing their lines. Also, should Carroll be fit and starting in this match, West Ham’s own target man is a force on set-piece defending, helping out in an area that can cause West Ham issues at times.

Outside of Rondon, Perez is a man worth noting. The center-forward plays the #10 role well, grabbing the ball and either playing his striker or wingers in with slicing passes. combine him with Kenedy and you have yourself a fast, deceptive team that can cause you problems on the counter-attack. Kenedy’s trickiness was shown off against Burnley, as he always opted for the flashy over efficient and was still often successful with his take-ons.

The back four for West Ham will need to get their offside trap working against this quick team and will also need midfield support from Rice when interrupting their play up the middle between Perez and Rondon.

West Ham’s Attack Plan

I think we’ll see a similar plan in effect for Newcastle as that which was used against Manchester City. Instead of a 4-4-2 with deep wide midfielders though, we’ll see those wide players committed forward and able to roam inside with support from their fullbacks. I am also anticipating two strikers for West Ham, Carroll and either Arnautovic, who appears to be fit, or Chicharito.

The double striker move is a terrific idea for this game because the formation intrinsically causes more caution for the entire opposition back four (or five) by adding an extra forward to the attack. With Lejuene out injured and no left-back in sight, West Ham could capitalize on the disjointed albeit well-drilled backline for Newcastle.

Look for Felipe Anderson to be the instigator here for West Ham as well. The winger will be in charge of play on the floor by cutting inside and will also feed the aerial duels with set-piece delivery and crosses of his own. With Cresswell likely to start behind him, West Ham will be using a lot of looping, wide crosses, and will be focusing on getting heads onto them for the entire 90 minutes.

A shock to the lineup could be the dropping of Academy graduate Grady Diangana. It’s through no fault of his own but his dropping would be a tactical move to get Robert Snodgrass into the match. If Carroll is playing West Ham need Snodgrass’s delivery in the starting line up, it’s as simple as that. When the match winds down get Diangana on when he can expose tired full/wing backs with his speed and hopefully create something special.