Alan Shearer blasted West Ham for terrible defending during their 1-0 defeat to Brighton and highlighted Arthur Masuaku in particular in his analysis.
The BBC pundit went through how Glenn Murray was able to score against the Hammers to get the Seagulls all three points on Friday night and criticised the Hammers for their defending in the build-up to the goal.
Shearer directly mentioned Masuaku as he shared that he thought the left-back simply let Murray run off him in order to slot home before praising the 35-year-old forward in general.
“There was a lot of players getting in the right place at the right time (when analysing Brighton’s goal) but terrible defending by West Ham,” said Shearer on BBC One’s Match of the Day repeat (Sunday, October 7, 9:55am).
“Masuaku just lets Murray run off him and y’know at that at age, you have a manager that understands you, knows you don’t have to train every day, you know your body inside out and keep getting into those positions and you’ll get goals like he does.
“Very cute, very clever.”
OPINION
It’s no surprise that Masuaku is the defender that Shearer is pointing his finger at as he clearly played a part in his side conceding against the Seagulls. The 24-year-old left-back was nowhere near Murray as he ran towards the near post to tap the ball home after it was crossed into the box, and he should have done better. Masuaku’s poor defending in that moment was only made worse by the fact, he visibility moaned about conceding like he was attaching blame to his teammates rather than holding his hands up. Also it wasn’t helped that Masuaku was all over the shop in Friday’s game and if anything he should be lucky that he only inadvertently contributed to Brighton scoring one goal. The French left-back is a fantastic attacking prospect but it’s clear he is not cut out to be defender in the Premier League as he struggles with the basics. The only reason why Masuaku may keep his place in the team after the international break is that Aaron Cresswell is the left-back that Manuel Pellegrini could replace him with and the English defender is of a similar mould.
