West Ham are currently being served poetic justice for their inaction in the January transfer window as attacking options are few and far between. Here are the three most logical answers to West Ham’s striker option within the squad.
As a prenote – Michail Antonio is likely to be fit for the Sheffield match. Moving forward, if Antonio is fit he should and will be the starting striker up top. However, as many West Ham fans know, Antonio’s fitness cannot be relied on. If he goes down, here are the options left.
Jesse Lingard as a False Nine
Jesse Lingard was brought in to be David Moyes’ swiss-army-knife player; fitting every need on the pitch, barring a deployment in the backline. He settled in quite quickly as a number 10, netting twice against Aston Villa, but as quickly as he looked settled in claret and blue, he abandoned that role.
Now the abandonment wasn’t a bad thing. Lingard had free reign to attack Villa across the front line. He proved this with his cross-pitch offensive support runs and by scoring to Emi Martinez’s right and left in this match.
With just one recognized striker in the squad, West Ham may need to rely on Lingard atop their attack.
He worked well with Antonio, but without a striker can he be relied on to push forward by himself and spearhead the Hammers’ attack? With a supporting cast of Said Benrahma, Jarrod Bowen, and Pablo Fornals, Lingard should be able to do this, but don’t expect him to play the Antonio style.
Instead, if Lingard is our striker, it’ll probably in be a 4-3-3 formation with him sitting in the centre as a false nine; a sunken in spearhead. This formation will allow him to move forward and create space behind him for Fornals or Benrahma, while also allowing him to get out wide and allow for Tomas Soucek to thunder up the pitch to provide an aerial threat.
This may be what we see, or even a 5-2-3 formation with extra wide support from the wingbacks, allowing a central midfielder to be removed for three more narrow attackers. Regardless, if Lingard is at the tip of the attack, expect it to be an unorthodox approach to Irons attacking football.
Let the youngster Ademipo Odubeko start and run with the chance for West Ham.
Anyone writing off Ademipo Odubeko after his goalless debut had no sense in their head. The youngster got an unexpected extended run out against his former team, Manchester United, and despite not scoring he showed a lot of quality on and off the ball.
Notably, Odubeko’s work rate was fantastic. The striker stayed central on attacking play and was pressed up against the opposition centre-backs looking for vertical runs in behind. He also hustled from side to side to provide a passing outlet to his wingers when West Ham held possession.
Mipo also tracked back with intensity and a spring in his legs. From being committed forward to attacking the Manchester midfielders from behind, Oduebko showed his hustle and pace on and off the ball in his debut.
His substitution, while at the moment hard to digest, was the right move in the end. David Moyes has a plan for Mipo and while a 58-minute debut wasn’t likely on the cards, pulling him off the pitch for a more experienced attacker does make logical sense for a manager trying to push for a win in extra time to push for FA Cup penalties.
The experience was good for Mipo and he showed his gratitude on social media for the opportunity, while also committing himself to getting better moving forward:
"“A lesson learnt and experience gained that I can only thank the manager for. Thanks to all the fans for the supportive messages. Time to step it up!”"
Should Moyes choose to put full-faith in Odubeko, the fan base will support the player and the manager. West Ham supporters love seeing the Academy produce a talent (even an adopted one) and they love seeing the opportunity be there for youngsters to succeed. Also, the David Moyes seal of approval on a youngster means something in the footballing world.
The most logical choice for West Ham could be shifting Jarrod Bowen to striker.
The star man playing on the right for West Ham could and probably should be the player shifted atop a striker-based formation if Michail Antonio has to miss any substantial time. Jarrod Bowen has the pace and creativity to create space for himself to create and finish goals, but can he do it as a solo striker?
Without height or muscular physicality, he’ll need to play a Jamie Vardy type game – plenty of offsides as he would need to live on the shoulder of his marking defenders to burn them with pace to get in behind. I say he can do it.
As it stands now, Bowen has statistically had an underwhelming and inconsistent season. He has been a key factor in the terrific season so far with exceptional work rate and wonderful delivery on corner kicks, but his goal production has been down a bit.
The cause to this? Probably his overwhelming defensive duties as a right-wingback even when playing in a flat-back four formation. Should Bowen shift centrally, he can leave this duty to Ryan Fredericks and Vladimir Coufal to handle. This would free him up to stay central off the ball and then move across the front line where he pleases when West Ham holds possession.
There needs to be an unorthodox answer to the problem, ‘of who is going to play striker?’ when the team doesn’t have one. It seemingly makes the most sense for David Moyes to craft his attack around his best players.
If that means change formations to a false nine with Lingard, so be it. If that means keep the status quo and rely on Odubeko, so be it. If that means shift tactics and deploy Bowen at striker, that works. Moyes has his players buying in and that commitment can make any of these strategies work for West Ham.