Sebastien Haller may have been the hero for West Ham, but his performance against Crystal Palace still lacked a lot of qualities.
The goal Sebastien Haller scored is one that will be remembered by West Ham fans for a long time to come. The general performance Haller put in against Palace is certainly one to be forgotten. The striker has struggled to adapt to the system David Moyes has implemented this season.
In the first-half Haller was pretty non-existent and fans would have been forgiven if they had missed him touch the ball at all. The striker’s only real contribution was a few passes out wide to Jarrod Bowen but then failed to get onto any crosses that were coming into the box. Some of the crosses weren’t bad either, and if Haller had taken more risks, he could have gotten on the end of them.
The club went behind in the first half due to a header from Christian Benteke. The Belgian striker shoed movement and determination to get on to the end of a cross and score the goal. The movement was something that Haller could take note of. If Haller moved as Benteke did before his sending off, he could score a few more goals.
The second-half Haller did show improvement to his overall game and managed three shots in the forty-five minutes. Despite this better showing Haller still could have done a lot more in the match. The striker finished the game having only touched the ball thirty-four times, two more touches than Benteke who was sent-off in the seventieth minute.
Even though Benteke had fewer touches and fewer minutes on the pitch, he managed more shots than Haller and looked a threat for most of his time on the pitch. Though Haller scored a wonder goal, there is still a lot he needs to add to his game going forward.
There was the excuse that the Ivorian’s confidence was knocked after he was dropped against in favour of Michail Antonio against Aston Villa. Now, after THAT goal Haller’s confidence should be sky-high, and if he takes that into the Chelsea game, he could turn into the match-winner the Hammer’s need.