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West Ham: The real “problem” with Felipe Anderson

By Adam Smith

West Ham United's Brazilian midfielder Felipe Anderson celebrates after scoring their fourth goal during the English Premier League football match between West Ham United and Bournemouth at The London Stadium, in east London on January 1, 2020. (Photo by DANIEL LEAL-OLIVAS / AFP) / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE. No use with unauthorized audio, video, data, fixture lists, club/league logos or 'live' services. Online in-match use limited to 120 images. An additional 40 images may be used in extra time. No video emulation. Social media in-match use limited to 120 images. An additional 40 images may be used in extra time. No use in betting publications, games or single club/league/player publications. / (Photo by DANIEL LEAL-OLIVAS/AFP via Getty Images)
West Ham United's Brazilian midfielder Felipe Anderson celebrates after scoring their fourth goal during the English Premier League football match between West Ham United and Bournemouth at The London Stadium, in east London on January 1, 2020. (Photo by DANIEL LEAL-OLIVAS / AFP) / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE. No use with unauthorized audio, video, data, fixture lists, club/league logos or 'live' services. Online in-match use limited to 120 images. An additional 40 images may be used in extra time. No video emulation. Social media in-match use limited to 120 images. An additional 40 images may be used in extra time. No use in betting publications, games or single club/league/player publications. / (Photo by DANIEL LEAL-OLIVAS/AFP via Getty Images) /
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If you’re looking for a slamming of West Ham’s Felipe Anderson, you’ve come to the wrong place. The only issue with Anderson is his improper use since arriving in East London.

Since arriving, there are no players who come close to the skillset of Felipe Anderson at West Ham. He can dribble, he can pass, he can shoot, and he is truly the king of the nutmegs. That being said, he’s gone extremely cold this season and supporters cannot seemingly figure out why.

The easy, obvious, and popular answer to this is ‘Anderson blows hot and cold, he isn’t committed to playing hard and he’s lazy.’ This is categorically wrong. Any viewing of Anderson’s game time would suggest the opposite, in fact.

Calling his work ethic into question is wrong. Anderson arrived from Lazio and was noticeably light and lacked the physicality required to compete on the wing in the Premier League. After two months of struggles for the club, Anderson backheeled his first Premier League goal past Manchester United’s David de Gea and opened his account for the team.

As is tradition at West Ham, the next ‘problem’ with Anderson was his defensive abilities and he was dragged on social media for not tracking back enough. Was there room for him to improve in this area? Of course! But did he deserve extensive criticism from prolific social media accounts and personalities they knew he was working on this in training? Not a chance.

As a result of his own work ethic (and not the lauding of the masses), Anderson is a more complete player. He figured out how to play a balanced style of play and thrived in his first season, tallying nine goals and three assists in Premier League play.

Manuel Pellegrini’s rapid decline this season coincided with Anderson’s lack of finishing, but the two are far more intertwined than it would seem. Regression at left-back forced Anderson to stack back as, essentially, a second left-back. Aaron Cresswell‘s inconsistency and Arthur Masuaku‘s dramatic drop off necessitated it.

Instead of allowing Anderson to play forward and trackback when needed, Pellegrini’s faulty coaching saw him line up as a defender first, hampering any offensive outbreak positionally and structurally in the team. The proof is in the goal-scoring – West Ham are far too talented to not score goals, but Pellegrini couldn’t manage to coach his team.

With David Moyes at the helm now, Anderson has already scored an impressive solo goal from an incredible ping off Declan Rice‘s boot. Holding off the defender on a perfectly timed run, Anderson shielded the ball and slotted it home cooly to do what Brazilians do.

Four games injured and a return to the bench halted any hot streak Anderson was likely to get on and has allowed for Pablo Fornals to step up in his place. However, if there was a candidate to break out for West Ham during the restart, it’s Anderson.

Next. ‘Clever’ Moyes Introduces New Tactic to West Ham Training. dark

Ripped and ready to go, back the Brazilian to right the course doing exactly what he knows how to do – generate offence. And if the real “problem” with Felipe Anderson hasn’t been uncovered yet, know that his form dropped due to poor coaching and incredibly false perception on social media.