Surprise! West Ham’s ‘new style of play’ is already predictable!
By Adam Smith
The revolutionary decision by Manuel Pellegrini to install a 4-4-2 formation at West Ham looks good on paper, however, the Hammers’ opposition has already figured it out and shut it down.
We all celebrated the use of a 4-4-2 formation when it happened against Southampton. It was crazy because every supporter in the entirety of the West Ham supporter base knew that Sebastien Haller thrived off of having a partner up top, but we celebrated nonetheless when it happened because it showed that the manager was willing to change his ideas.
One game removed from the narrow 1-0 win over the Saints, and Crystal Palace already have figured out how to shut down the “new” formation of the Hammers. Why? Well, because a 4-4-2 is one of the most well-known and heavily used formations in football, especially in the Premier Leauge.
It’s a solidly balanced line up that allows you to be attacking, with two committed strikers, but also defensive with four midfielders to support the extended fullback’s up the wing. Usually, and as in West Ham’s case, the striker duo will consist of a target man (Haller) and an energetic forward (Michail Antonio) to get on the layoffs and run the channels.
The Hammers have the players to make this work, so why then did Crystal Palace shut it down so easily? Because the manager has elected to not iterate on the formation at all, basically deploying the players in their roles and not trying to add any tactical advantage to the formation.
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That is why Palace were so easily able to shut down the tactic of ‘get the ball to the fullback to cross it in.’ Firstly, Pablo Zabaleta didn’t cross and didn’t get back with any urgency so the right side of the pitch was irrelevant for the Hammers and Martin Kelly just pressured Aaron Cresswell physically and blocked the majority of his crosses.
Pablo Fornals and Robert Snodgrass were, outside of Snodgrass’ goal, almost non-factors on the pitch as well. Both players were either overlapped and pushed centrally by fullbacks or were out wide when the play was moving through the middle of the pitch. Both times when Fornals and Snodgrass counterattacked through the midfield on the break, Fornals was wide open but the pass was blocked, and Snodgrass was open for his goal.
There was a clear opportunity to stack wide with the fullbacks and cut inside after the pressure was put on Cresswell and Zabaleta, but this was never capitalized on by the players or by the manager. Both are at fault, but simply using a formation and expecting it to be perfect is shortsighted and unacceptable. Time for a change.