Could Craig Dawson actually fit into this West Ham side?

West Ham’s recent loan move for Craig Dawson was greeted with a big negative reaction from the fans. But away from the optics of the transfer, it might not be a bad move.

David Moyes was unable to bring in his main centre-back target James Tarkowski after Burnley and West Ham failed to agree on a fee. As such we were expecting a potential move to another top centreback target in order to bolster our options and improve the level of our defence. So a move for twice relegated centre-back Craig Dawson was a little worrying on the face of it.  But it isn’t all doom and gloom.

With West Ham currently playing a back three system, you need centrebacks capable of playing a couple of different roles. The outside two need to be mobile and capable of dealing with threats in a semi-fullback manner, whilst the middle can be less mobile and needs to handle aerial threats.

Our current back three has seen us with Aaron Cresswell on the left, Angelo Ogbonna in the middle and Fabian Balbuena or Issa Diop on the right. Of the two positions, Dawson is more suited to the middle one, and bringing him in offers us flexibility there.

For starters, he offers immediate depth in that role. For the LCB position, it will be Cresswell as first choice and Ogbonna second choice due to him being left-footed, Balbuena and Diop in at RCB and Ogbonna and now Dawson. Both Balbuena and Diop have shown inconsistency with their positioning over the past two seasons and lack the certainty needed from the inside centreback position. Dawson has experience on his side for this role, and isn’t too shoddy where it matters.

As you can see from the table above, provided by Squawka, Dawson excels in both aerial duels and putting himself on the line to block the shot. He’s also got the second-best passing success percentage out of the four options (I didn’t include Cresswell as he was playing as a full back last year) showing he should be capable of finding a pass either to our centrebacks, wing-backs or the midfielders ahead of him.

Do I think he’s the answer to all of our defensive issues? No. But he does improve our centreback depth (which is dangerously slim) and add an aerial and defensive presence that we’re lacking in reserve.

Plus, given that we’re always due to a big injury crisis, adding extra bodies is always sensible. A backup option in on loan isn’t the issue, as long as we have money to bring in a first-team option in January.