OPINION
Tony Cascarino implied that West Ham attacker Sebastien Haller’s job in the team was made easier as he stated that the forward was lucky to have Manuel Lanzini and Felipe Anderson as teammates.
The pundit remarked on Haller after he scored a brace in the 3-1 victory over Watford on Saturday and pointed out how much was expected of a modern-day centre-forward.
Cascarino revealed he believes Haller is lucky to have Anderson and Lanzini playing behind him as the duo are the type of players who do a lot for centre-forwards.
“He showed a lot of agility, y’know how we touched on big centre-forwards that a lot is expected of them as not only are they expecting to win headers, to lead the line, they have to be technically good enough so a lot more is depended on them,” said Cascarino on talkSPORT (8:51am, Sunday, August 25th).
“I think he is lucky Haller that he has Lanzini and Anderson in the team as they’re players who can do a lot for centre-forwards, so it wasn’t surprising West Ham got a victory there.”
It’s fair to say Cascarino is spot-on as having the creative duo of Lanzini and Anderson feed you chances, means that Haller knows that the opportunities for him to score will come if he just gets in the right positions.
Take his opening goal against Watford, Anderson drove into space on the flank before cutting the ball back across the face of goal, which gave the Frenchman an easy tap-in to fire home.
The Brazilian made three key passes and attempted three dribbles in the clash with Watford in order to try and carve out chances for his teammates, including Haller, and if he keeps doing that, then Haller will no doubt continue to thrive. (Source: WhoScored)
The clash with Watford wasn’t a one-off for Anderson either as the 26-year-old managed to register five assists in 40 league outings last season, and created 10 big chances in his league outings. (Source: Premier League)
As for Cascarino reference Lanzini, it’s fair to say the 26-year-old is equally as capable of aiding Haller as Anderson is.
The Hammers playmaker has already registered one assist in his league outings this season, as he played an inch-perfect through ball for Javier Hernandez to fire home against Brighton.
Lanzini carved out one big chance in his 2018/19 league campaign despite only playing 10 games, as per the Premier League, and created six big chances in his 2017/18 campaign when he featured 27 times in the league.
So when you take that into consideration, Cascarino is spot on to point how Haller is lucky to have Lanzini and Anderson to call upon as they can make his job as a centre-forward easier.
