Time for a formation change at West Ham

Tried and true, Manuel Pellegrini has installed a formation and stuck with it at West Ham. With performances recently waining, however, it’s time for a change.

West Ham have gone with a 4-2-3-1 or 4-1-4-1 formation with the same personnel chosen in nearly every match. The back four of Ryan Fredericks, Angelo Ogbonna, Issa Diop, and whoever is healthy or available out of Aaron Cresswell or Arthur Masuaku essentially pick themselves.

What is disappointing is that with opportunity, Fabian Balbuena and Pablo Zabaleta haven’t done anything to push for starting minutes as shown with the consistent team selection. Zabaleta’s recession into the background in this his final season has been expected, but Balbuena not doing enough to push for ANY minutes is shocking considering his impressive form last year.

Declan Rice and Mark Noble have been the two holding midfielders chosen at every opportunity they’ve been available. Noble is tasked with being more of a box-to-box player with Manuel Lanzini beside him in central attack, flanked by Felipe Anderson and either Andriy Yarmolenko or Pablo Fornals. Lastly, Sebastien Haller is atop the team as the lone striker.

The way this team is constructed puts immense pressure on the fullbacks and central midfielders to link the offense and defense. With everyone except the striker pulled back on defensive coverage, counter-attacking isn’t a sustainable gameplan, so instead the team needs to link defense to offense through possession and passing. Unfortunately for the Hammers, this has proved difficult in recent weeks.

The solution? Change the formation rather drastically to better suit the players available. The proposed change would see West Ham shift into a 4-2-2-2 formation, one Manuel Pellegrini is extremely familiar with from his time at Manchester City.

The players in the team are as follows:

Roberto

Fredericks – Diop – Ogbonna – Cresswell

Rice – Noble

Yarmolenko – Anderson

Ajeti – Haller

This team is narrow and attacking heavy but balanced by two stay-at-home defensive midfielders. Their role is to sit just in front of the center-backs with possession and pass the ball to the attacking players, and in defense, they cover back for extended fullbacks and clog the midfield. Basically, their duty is to stay deep and prioritize defense over offense.

Not only does this team shake up the current roster, but it also sends a message to the likes of Manuel Lanzini and Pablo Fornals – that complacency isn’t ever accepted and no position is given regardless of contract or price tag.

The belief is still there that the team that performed so well to start the season (Manchester City aside) is the real West Ham team. What will help is Antonio and Fabianski back from injury to be sure. Until then there is time and opportunity for players like Albian Ajeti to make an impact should they be provided an opportunity.

It isn’t a coincidence that West Ham were able to put pressure on Everton when Ajeti was injected in the game, it just happened that the defensive responsibilities of the midfielders, specifically with Jack Wilshere missing his assignment on Gylfi Sigurdsson for the second goal, were dropped to try and get the tying goal.

There needs to be a culture change with this team, not necessarily a personnel change. Pellegrini has the experience to facilitate this change and the players are good enough to return and confidence paid to them by their manager on the pitch. Up next is Sheffield United and a potential grudge match. It’s time for a statement game.