BeIN SPORTS pundit Andy Gray believes that West Ham United look like a much better team now Jack Wilshere is out on the sidelines with injury.
The summer signing started the first four games of the Premier League season for the Hammers, but he has suffered yet another injury on his ankle, which meant that he was not able to feature in last Sunday’s win over Everton.
However, the well-known pundit thinks that the absence of Wilshere is a good thing for West Ham, and that the trio of Mark Noble, Pedro Obiang and Declan Rice were more effective in last weekend’s victory.
Andy Gray says @WestHamUtd are better without Jack Wilshere in their team.#beINPL #WHUCHE 📺 HD11 pic.twitter.com/fTW5pSnAwb
— beIN SPORTS (@beINSPORTS_EN) September 23, 2018
“I don’t know if it is a coincidence, but with Jack gone out of the side, and Obiang, Rice and Noble forming that trio in midfield against Everton, it was much, much better,” he told beIN SPORTS.
“They protected the back four well, and released the front three well too. That’s an interesting area of the pitch.”
OPINION
It is hard not to agree with Gray here – West Ham did look far better in the midfield when Wilshere was not playing. They seemed to have a lot more energy without him in the side, and that is surely no coincidence. The duo of Wilshere and Noble was not as effective as some would have first thought, and Manuel Pellegrini decided to try something different – and it most definitely worked. The trio completely overran Everton’s midfield last Sunday, and it would not be surprising if Pellegrini stuck with this combination for the majority of the season, even when Wilshere finally returns from his setback. The 26-year-old has not blown people away since he arrived, and now it is easy to tell why Arsenal let him go. He is not at a high standard any more, and if he wants to assure himself of a place in the first team, he will have to prove that he is better than the likes of Obiang and Rice.
