West Ham must keep hold of their unique threat

Mauro Zarate’s substitute appearance against Everton marked his first action on the pitch for West Ham for six weeks, with his last appearances coming when he started in the match against QPR way back on October 5th. This is due largely to a mixture of niggling injury problems, and the form of the club’s other attacking players, particularly Enner Valencia and Diafra Sakho.

His lack of involvement led to some questioning whether the Argentinian had a long-term future at Upton Park. These doubts were only strengthened when rumours in the press sparked by comments from a man purporting to be Zarate’s agent, claimed that 27-year-old was unhappy at the club, particularly due to the fact that he wasn’t being used as an out and out striker when has had time on the pitch in a West Ham shirt.

Whilst Zarate has refuted such claims, it would appear that in general, he is not going to be a regular in the starting eleven – there were rumours that the former Birmingham City and Inter Milan striker was originally signed at the insistence of David Sullivan despite him not being the choice of the manager Sam Allardyce.

It is clear, however, that Zarate does add great value to the squad, and for that reason the club should keep him, certainly for the rest of the campaign. I can see why he isn’t picked for some matches, as at times, his position playing just behind the frontmen can take up a valuable midfield place in the team which could be filled by a more defensively-minded player, which is often required against quality teams. He is also not the type of player who likes to put his foot in or will track back the opposition midfielders, and in certain matches his role would therefore be made somewhat redundant.

But when West Ham are on top in matches, or trying to break down an opposition who are trying to make themselves defensively solid – as we saw against Aston Villa in the last home fixture, and to some extent against Everton last weekend – then Zarate looks like he is the sort of player we require to unlock the door; he gives us another plan in other words.

The man signed from Velez Sarsfield in the summer is quite selfish in many ways in possession, which is not always a bad thing. He is unafraid to run and try and beat defenders when he has the ball at his feet, and his low centre of gravity and close control means he can do this at speed. He will also try and shoot at any opportunity he gets, as was shown by his deflected goal from the edge of the area against Everton, and his wonder strike away to Crystal Palace early in the campaign.

This type of approach can create panic in opposition defences, and can help open up teams who are compact defensively. In this way Zarate provides a different attacking option to the other players in the squad, and is also capable of changing games from the bench if necessary, overall making West Ham a much harder proposition to defend against.

So Zarate should be kept at the club, certainly during this coming window. Whilst the team overall have being doing well this season, Zarate still provides a unique threat which the Hammers are going to need as the season progresses.