RVT Is The Key To Solving West Ham’s Goalscoring Woes

I will start by saying, yes I am serious. The ability of players, no matter how good or bad, will always split opinions. There will always be someone out there who thinks differently about a player to you, guaranteed. Perhaps I am the only West Ham fan that thinks Ricardo Vaz Te could be our saviour but hopefully I might change a few fans minds about him during this article.

 

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Last season Ricardo Vaz Te scored 12 goals in 16 games for us. No matter what you want to say about the standard of the league, that is a great scoring record. He scored the goal that sent us back up, arguably the most important goal anyone scored all season, yet does he get a chance to play up front this season to prove that he can do it in the big time to? No, he doesn’t. Does the fact that the Championship is worse quality than the Premier League mean that a successful goal scorer in the Championship should not be given a chance in the Premier League? I would suggest that any football fan that believes that is the right way to go is legally insane.

 

Many fans blame his work rate and attitude as the reason why they don’t rate him, others just believe he isn’t Premier League quality. This season, especially after his injury, he has acted childish on occasions and hasn’t performed up to scratch, I agree. The problem is, no one thinks about the wider picture. Ricardo Vaz Te is a striker who can play on the wing, not a midfielder. This season he has been forced to play in midfield week in week out. As someone who plays football, being forced to play out of position and then getting slated for not playing particularly well is incredibly frustrating; no wonder he looks disinterested when he plays.

 

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As I said in my last article, the current system just isn’t working. We are 18th in the form league table which is quite simply not good enough, 1 win in 12 games is embarrassing yet fans refuse to blame the system we are playing. I really did want to write an article praising Big Sam in one way or another but I just couldn’t. The only way we are going to start scoring regularly is by changing the system we play and using 2 of our 6 strikers up front. In my opinion one of those two has to be Vaz Te because he deserves a chance to prove himself and he knows how to score, as shown last season.

 

Imagine you played football for a team aside from the team you support. You do all you can for that team, score at a fantastic ratio and cap a fantastic half of the season at that club by scoring the goal that gets them promoted. You are now in the top league and despite scoring 12 goals in 16 games last season you are told by the manager that you have to play in midfield whether you like it or not and whether you are any good there or not. In the ensuing months fans turn against you and your performances continue to disappoint. Ask yourself, would you really care about playing for that team and that manager? I know I wouldn’t.

 

No matter what players wages are nowadays, they should still be treated with respect and I don’t think Vaz Te has been by the manager or the fans of this great club. Too many fans don’t think about the whole picture, we sit in the stands and if someone isn’t playing well, we slate them. I am no different, my disbelief that Kevin Nolan still has a place in our team is well documented by my tweets whilst others believe he is a fantastic player.

 

Opinions of players will always be split but I think Vaz Te is unfairly slated and I genuinely believe that if given the chance up top with a strike partner, he would show the form he produced last season. Not dissimilar to the Modibo Maiga situation, we are wasting talent by either not playing these two strikers at all or by playing them out of position.

 

I know a lot of you reading won’t agree with me but Vaz Te showed us last season the potential he has yet this season has not been given a chance to play up front in a system that works. Perhaps he is not Premier League class but his 12 goals in 16 games started for us last season added to the 12 goals in 14 games started for Barnsley in the same season suggest he deserves, at the very least, a chance to show what he can do now that we are in the Premier League. He is the most likely striker we have the has the ability to start scoring regularly. He and Chamakh up front would be great to see along with a more creative midfield of J.Cole, Noble, Diame and Collison.

 

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In summary, whether you think Vaz Te is Premier League quality or not, there is no way you can say he doesn’t deserve a chance to play up front after his fantastic scoring record last season. Also, it would be nice to see fans look at it from the players point of view once in a while, everyone was quick to defend James Tomkins when he struggled at right back and centre mid but with Vaz Te no one seems to understand or take in to account that he is playing completely out of position. Moving from up front to in the midfield is a much bigger change than Tomkins’ move from centre back to right back yet Vaz Te gets berated constantly.

 

Perhaps saying he is key to solving our problems is something no one else with agree with, but I genuinely believe, if we start playing 2 up front, Vaz Te back in his rightful position would prove himself in this league. If he gets that chance and turns out to not be Premier League quality then “fair enough” but not giving him a chance up front, in my opinion, is very poor management.