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Ajeti must start next match for West Ham

By Jay Korman

LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND - OCTOBER 19:Albian Ajeti of West Ham United battles for possession with Andre Gomes of Everton during the Premier League match between Everton FC and West Ham United at Goodison Park on October 19, 2019 in Liverpool, United Kingdom. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)
LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND - OCTOBER 19:Albian Ajeti of West Ham United battles for possession with Andre Gomes of Everton during the Premier League match between Everton FC and West Ham United at Goodison Park on October 19, 2019 in Liverpool, United Kingdom. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images) /
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After a flying start to the season, the Hammers have lost back to back matches for the first time this season. With the attack looking stagnant at times, Pellegrini must take a gamble on Albian Ajeti.

It seemed like only a few weeks ago we were praising Manuel Pellegrini and this year’s West Ham United squad for an incredible start to the season. Fast forward three weeks and the Hammers have some major issues to address. The Hammers are coming off of losses to both Crystal Palace and Everton, where both performances lacked effort and passion from the Irons. It is now up to the manager now to change the starting XI and get West Ham back to winning ways once again.

One of the biggest problems for West Ham this season has been certain attacking players not playing up to their ability, specifically Manuel Lanzini and Felipe Anderson. Although Lanzini has been a bit injured this year, he hasn’t really shown enough consistency to his game thus far in the 2019/2020 Premier League. Anderson, on the other hand, has been downright poor. He has tracked back nicely and made some decent runs, however, the Brazilian has not seemed to build off of his first season in England, and many Hammers fans would like to see him dropped.

I think one way to kick-start the West Ham attack, is to start new signing Albian Ajeti up top with Haller. Haller thrived in this system in his last season at Frankfurt, where he played off of Luka Jovic and was very effective. By playing Ajeti, Pellegrini could try and ignite a fire into the attack, and maybe get some goals from the two new strikers. It’s worth a try as it just does not seem like Anderson is very effective in attack on the wing at the moment.

By no means am I saying that I think Felipe Anderson is not good enough for West Ham United. He is one of our most creative and skilled players, and I, along with most West Ham fans, are incredibly grateful that he is at our club. However, with the Hammers facing Sheffield next week, a little change to the XI would not hurt the Hammers.

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Sheffield is known to play a very defensive style game, usually imploring a back-line of 5 in most matches this season. If Pellegrini were to stick with the previous system, Haller could find it another frustrating afternoon, as he could be very isolated in attack. With Ajeti in the team, he could provide a boost to Haller, and help the Hammers get back on track with 3 very vital points.