All but one West Ham player fall (hard) in Bleacher Report’s Top100 Rankings

I wince as I look over Sam Tighe‘s EPL100 positional power rankings for this past week in the Premier League. West Ham put forward an awful performance against a Wolves side that relentlessly dominated the Hammers. The rankings reflect this.

The Bleacher Report weekly ranking, EPL100 can be seen here. It ranks the best players by positions after each week, taking into consideration their performances from the week that was, and the form they have strung together over the past few matches.

Let’s get into the Irons’ rankings:

Goalkeepers: Lukasz Fabianski – 1st

Previous – 2nd

Not often can you say a keeper that let three goals was hands down your team’s best player but alas an abysmal defensive performance saw this unlikely statement come to life. Lukasz Fabianski deserves all the recognition and a purple heart to go along with it after that debacle, and Tighe agrees:

"It might seem strange that a goalkeeper who conceded three moves to the top of the pile this week, but check in on Lukasz Fabianski’s performance against Wolverhampton Wanderers, and you’ll see why. Without his excellence, it could have been six or seven."

The most impressive part of this match was after Doherty smashed into him on a 50/50 ball, cleating his arms and face with both boots, Fabianski stayed in the game. Arnautovic had just left with a suspected broken foot and a keeper substitution would have put the Hammers down a man in a match they were already chasing. Fabianski hung tough and continued to make saves after the injury. He’s a shoe-in for best signing and Hammer of the year.

Centre-Backs: Issa Diop – 20th

Previous – 15th

And the winner of the biggest drop in the category of centre-back goes to… (drumroll) Issa Diop of West Ham United! The only award to be given after that match was something negative like this. Diop is an aggressive defender who likes to step up in the play, join the counter-attack, and make tackles at any point in the opposition’s attack. He, unfortunately, is being relied on for much more defensively right now and hasn’t adapted.

Without the General, Fabian Balbuena, to drill him into shape and support him defensively Diop has struggled with babysitting Angelo Ogbonna. He can’t play his game effectively because Ogbonna can’t cover him stepping up, and the result has been goals against galore. Diop is presumably out of the top 20 on this list with Liverpool up next for the Hammers.

Right-Back: Pablo Zabaleta – 9th

Previous – 7th

From steady and reliable to overrun and tired, West Ham’s ageless wonder Pablo Zabaleta is slowing down a little at right back. None of the goals against in any of the previous matches have been on his shoulders, but the quality of West Ham’s back line should be addressed by their defensive captain.

I think this is the natural progression now for Zabaleta. For teams where Pellegrini thinks they can take a more attacking gamble, look for Ryan Fredericks to get match time and starts ahead of the league-winner. If Fredericks can round into form Zabaleta can be used in a tandem system to better suit his abilities to dig in and break up elite attacks. But, yeah he deserved a drop for now in the rankings.

Central/Defensive Midfielders: Declan Rice – 6th

Previous – 4th

I’m going to actually be critical of the untouchable precious future of West Ham, Declan Rice, here and say he had a match to forget against Wolves. Granted, he played better than any outfield player on the team, but by his own standards, it was a match he would likely want to have back.

He was marking Jimenez on the second goal against that saw the striker free to kick in a dead ball that dropped to his feet. Rice was a half step behind on the delivery and unable to turn him away from the goal as he did so well on the first goal against. Rice will bounce back, that I’m sure of, but Liverpool will be a tough opponent to do so against. Maybe he’ll have a personal vendetta against them seeing as how he was dropped for nearly a month due to his last performance against the Reds.

Attacking Midfielders/Wingers: Felipe Anderson – 14th

Previous – 10th

West Ham’s record signing has gone cold in January, not contributing any goals or assists all month long barring a phenomenal FA Cup freekick goal. With Anderson, I don’t think it’s him that’s underperforming but his surrounding teammates. He needs a clinical finisher in the box to get the ball to and he needs a solid midfield to supply him.

The chemistry seems to be there with either Masuaku or Cresswell at left-back which is positive news, but the return of Lanzini or Nasri will be welcomed with open arms by Anderson. Also, Marko get in the damn box already!