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The Three C’s And West Ham’s Striking Woes

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SportFive strikers, all at least six foot, a measly six goals in the Premier League between them this season, ever thought this is where the problem lies at West Ham?

I have not been one to get on the back or criticise Sam Allardyce this season, we find ourselves mid-table in our first season back in the top flight and 18 months on I still believe Allardyce was the right choice to ensure stability at the club. However the one aspect that has been particularly disappointing this season is that of the forward line.

 

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We are the lowest scorers in the league away from home and have managed just 29 goals in 26 games this season, the fourth lowest in the league. We also haven’t managed to score two or more goals in a game since early December. Not good enough.

Carlton Cole, for all his efforts is and never will be a goalscorer. He puts in a shift and when playing at his best can be a nightmare for defenders, as he proved against Chelsea in December, but he is too inconsistent and his goals are few and far between. In Andy Carroll, I still believe we have a very good striker. Injuries have not helped his cause this season but we look a much better team with him in the side. Again though, with just two goals this season, his goalscoring record needs to be improved, but he is exceptional in the air and very good and bringing other players into the game, Kevin Nolan in particular. The jury is still very much out on Modibo Maiga. For me, I’m not convinced he will be a success in the Premier League. Despite occasional flashes of brilliance he is far too weak and inconsistent. In fairness to him, he has started very few games for the club and often been played out wide, so he does deserve some time to prove myself and others wrong.

With a lack of goals pre-January from the three frontmen, we needed strikers during the transfer window; preferably one’s who could put the ball in the back of the net. Instead Allardyce opted for the frighteningly out of favour Marouane Chamakh who has hardly featured, let alone scored for Arsenal this season, and unproven Brazilian Wellington Paulista. Both signings were 6 foot something, just adding a bit more height to our already gigantic strike force.

 

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Chamakh has started a couple of league games for the club and to be honest I’ve seen very little to inspire me. As for Paulista, well he may not have featured for the first team yet but there is a bit more of intrigue surrounding his signature. The 28-year-old, who scored 28 goals in 40 games for Cruzeiro last year, has netted three times in four appearances for our development squad. I would be lying if I said I knew much about the striker but he certainly seems to know where the back of the net is, something the rest seem to struggle with. I would like to see Paulista definitely make the bench in the coming weeks, it might just be that something different we need.

The lack of variety is the most striking thing about our attacking options this season. In Carroll, Cole and Chamakh we have three big, strong almost battering-ram centre forwards. When one or more of these are on the pitch, we almost inevitably resort to route one football. Okay it may have proved rather successful at the beginning of the season but it has now become far too predictable and the opposition know how to set up and defend against it. If it gets to say the hour mark and we need a goal, we have no one available to bring on to really mix things up. Okay we could just chuck another big man up top, but when you know what’s coming, it’s much easier to defend.

Just look at Adam Le Fondre at Reading. He may not be the greatest striker in the world but he’s a poacher. He’s sharp and quick, and this is something we could desperately do with at the moment, especially when Carroll is winning the vast majority of his headers. I just feel Big Sam was naïve to not try to bring in a Le Fondre type of player. Perhaps even keeping a Baldock or a Maynard at the start of the season would have been wise. Again there probably not going to light up the Premiership week in week out but they are not a bad option to bring on against tiring defenders for the last 20 minutes.

 

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To be fair to Big Sam, there probably wasn’t a great deal out there in January to bring in but I know I’m not the only fan who is hugely frustrated by our lack of invention, variation and pace going forward. Every side needs a plan B. It’s a major worry that when we do go behind, especially away from home, it’s difficult to see where our next goal is coming from.

Let’s just hope it’s all part of the Big Sam master plan and we bang in three against Tottenham Monday week.

Keep the Faith

James May

@JimMay89

 

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4 comments

  • Spence55 says:

    You either play two men up front as a pair supporting and feeding off each other, or you have a decent lone target mean with a number of supporting goalscoring midfielders. We have a lone target man with no bloody support…how the hell is Batman or Superman going to score goals with this set up ??? Its like watching a Sunday morning team at times. Please tell me exactly what Sam Allardyce is seeing that most of us cant ????

  • frankiehammer says:

    You’re right James. Our attack is weak but it sometimes isn’t entirely the fault of the strikers. They are normally the ones who are mainly responsible for scoring the goals but they must receive the service. The engine room of any team is in midfield & normally just in front of the back four. This is where the service is provided. In Mark noble we have a player who is woefully short of pace & could be outstripped by most fifty year olds over ten metres. He lacks the ability to move forward & is dyslexic in reading the game. Every player in the league knows this. Thus, he is closed down very quickly resulting in a sideways or backward pass. He was absolutely shocking against Villa & needlessly conceded a penalty. This is the area where we need to make changes in order to achieve success.

    • Spence55 says:

      Wrong…Nolan is the problem. Noble is on a different level to him in terms of mobility and passing and I wouldnt even mention both players in the same breath. Noble is at the heart of everything, Nolan goes missing and contributes nothing. He leaves us with in effect 10 men so the sooner hes given the boot and we another pair of legs is slotted in there to work, close down and contribute, especially up front in support of the poor bugger whos been selected, then we have half a chance. Mark Noble has covered more grass than any other Hammers player and made more passes…sideways or backwards is immaterial, he keeps possession which is more than be siad for most of the others (Taylor, Nolan, Cole C…need I go on ???).

  • JimMay89 says:

    I agree that the system Big Sam is using is completely wrong at the moment and the midfield are as much to blame as the strikers. However I mainly used this article to focus on the strikers and highlight how I feel, barring Carroll, they are not really good enough and far too similar in terms of the type of player. Playing two up front is a must for me with our lack of creativity from midfield but with the strikers we’ve got, it has to be either Paulista or Vaz Te who’s up top with Carroll.

    As for the midfield, I think Noble started the season well but has gone horribly off the boil. He’s tidy in possession but lack of pace and strength is a real worry for the position he plays. Nolan, who’s strengths have always been his leadership and knack of popping up with some crucial goals, has been poor this season in my opinion. Again he started well with a few goals but they have dried up and there are far too many games where he is purely a passenger in midfield.

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