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Wright is on the money with Masuaku remarks

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OPINION

Ian Wright knows a thing or two about attacking football and his defence of West Ham full-back Arthur Masuaku will have Hammers fans urging Manuel Pellegrini to experiment when utilising the player.

The BBC pundit, who scored 113 goals in 213 Premier League outings during his playing career, and knows from regularly commenting on England’s top-flight on shows such as Match of the Day what it takes to succeed in this division.

“Masuaku is not the best left-back either,” said Don Hutchinson on BBC Radio 5 Live’s Monday Night Club (December 17th, 1:43:10).

Wright then launched a brief defence of Masuaku by pointing that why he wasn’t the best left-back, the player did look good on the attack as he had some nice skills in his locker.

“No but I quite like him going forward, he’s got some nice skills about him,” perked up the pundit moments later.

Hammers fans based on Wright’s defence of Masuaku should be urging Pellegrini to experiment with the player by deploying him as a left-winger more often as clearly a Premier League legend is compliment of the attacking side of the defender’s game.

The 25-year-old has featured a total of 25 times in the Hammers’ midfield on the left-flank but none of his outings have come under Pellegrini.

While Masuaku has struggled to impress at the back in his 15 appearances this season, the Hammers boss is yet to try him in a new position in order to improve his form.

The left-back, while deserving of some of the criticism that comes his way, is often made the scapegoat by fans as some supporters tear into him even when his performances aren’t that bad.

This is because of him making some notable mistakes and fans fear the worst when he shows any signs of being about to make an error.

Yet given that the Hammers could benefit from Masuaku being further up field, he’d be fantastic cover for Felipe Anderson or allow the Brazilian to play in a more central position,  Pellegrini has shown no signs a position switch is about to happen.

Yet after Wright publicly defended the Hammers’ usual scapegoat, it will have fans urging the Hammers boss to use Masuaku differently especially given there’s a lot of games to cope with over the festive period.

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