With no goals and only two shots on target in West Ham’s last two games, David Moyes must find a way to fix his misfiring attack. For much of the season, the Hammers have been playing exciting attacking football but recently, issues have started to emerge.
Michail Antonio’s hamstring struggles have not helped the team’s cause. The powerful striker has been critical to West Ham’s success over the last eight months. As expected though Antonio has struggled to maintain his fitness and is on the constant edge of hurting his hamstring again.
The 30-year-old has been playing up until the FA Cup defeat to Manchester United. However, it is clear to see that the striker is in pain and not his usual explosive self. This constraint on Antonio is damaging the whole team’s ability to attack. As he does not offer the same outlet compared to when he is fully fit.
West Ham are having a successful season, but tiredness is starting to catch up with the players which is showing in their recent performances.
Tomas Soucek is currently the club’s leading goalscorer with eight. After the Czech, there is a drop of three goals to Antonio and Jarrod Bowen, both of which are on five goals. The next crop of current players that have contributed to goals with two are Pablo Fornals, Craig Dawson, Jesse Lingard and Angelo Ogbonna.
Dawson and Ogbonna can’t be relied on for more goals due to being defenders. Fornals has not scored a league goal since defeat against Liverpool last year, and Lingard has only played one game. Perhaps Lingard will continue to perform, and this will be a moot point.
On the other hand, Lingard may not provide continue to notch a brace in each and every game he plays in. In this case, the reality case, Moyes must develop a solution to get the Hammers firing again.
The team has a six-day break between the FA Cup exit and their fixture against Sheffield United which could be a blessing. It will allow Antonio some extra rest and get his fitness levels back up, though it is only a matter of time before he suffers blowout again.
Maybe Moyes will show faith in Ademipo Obudeko or jig around with Andriy Yarmolenko, Jarrod Bowen or Said Benrahma in the striker role. Whatever it is Moyes needs to find the right as soon as possible.