New signing will be key to helping West Ham beat blocking teams

West Ham have long term issues with breaking down teams that don’t press, but block. But Said Benrahma may be the way we begin to make headway.

Newcastle, Arsenal, Crystal Palace, even the first part of the Spurs game. These are the times that West Ham have underperformed in the Premier League this season. We can even probably include Everton in the League cup for this article. Why? None of these teams presses up, and it completely stifles our game.

Out of those teams, only Arsenal have more than 20% of their presses in the attacking third. This means that we’re not playing with the whole pitch against these sides, just the final parts. This reduces space both in behind the defence and the gaps in between the lines. Arsenal may press higher, but only 4 teams have made fewer tackles in the final third than they have.

Our attacks currently consist of fast-moving passes down the wide areas, exploiting space to get the ball across or behind on the counter. If the side defending doesn’t push, however, there is very little space to exploit, and there’s not much in the way of joy to be had when crossing in towards a set defence from deep.

The only side in the same statistical bracket that we’ve succeeded against is Wolves. But we grabbed an early counter-attacking goal and they had to push, meaning we had joy. If we don’t score early, then it’s much like the Crystal Palace game. A lot of work and no real fruit.

So step forward Said Benrahma. The tricky winger is very different to most players we currently have in our squad. A genuine talent on the dribble, willing to take the ball under pressure and beat his man, it is his talents that we will need to break these sides down.

Tifo football released this video a couple of months back, and it really highlights our issues. We don’t have too many players willing to move into tight spaces, beat players on the ball or create a quick interchange. Benrahma and maybe Manuel Lanzini (on his good days) can do it. But it will also require Sebastien Haller to make the most of what he can bring to the side.

Michail Antonio is great at running the channels, exploiting space in between the centrebacks and fullbacks, but he is not a technical player. Haller is better with his feet (despite what Twitter tells you) and brings more people into the game if they support him. Him supported by Pablo Fornals, Lanzini but primarily Benrahma could be the key jump we need to take to win these matches.

David Moyes has now shown willingness to start the Algerian, and that’s a start. He could really propel us up the table, and with West Ham looking good right now, who knows where we’ll end up?