Owen Hargreaves pinpointed West Ham United forward Sebastien Haller as the best player on the park in their 0-0 draw with Aston Villa on Monday night.
The former Manchester United midfielder was impressed with the entire Hammers’ squad and heaped praise on the appointment of Manuel Pellegrini and the squad he has built in the past couple of years.
Hargreaves was in awe of the West Ham defence and admitted that he would like to see more of summer signing, Pablo Fornals, after his cameo off the bench.
Speaking on the Premier League’s official website, Hargreaves backed Haller to add to the three goals he has already scored this season after his performance at Villa Park.
“I think they’re building something there, and I think that the appointment of Pellegrini was the right one because he’s a safe pair of hands, he’s calm, he’s experienced,” he said.
“He’s got a good goalkeeper in Fabianski, he’s got a good back four, two strong centre-backs played really well today, Diop, I think is really impressive.”
“I thought Fornals looked very good when came on, I’d like to see more of him, but I thought the best player on the pitch was Sebastien Haller, every time I watch him, he plays really well, and he’s going to score some goals this season.”
OPINION
Haller stepped up when West Ham needed him the most against Villa, with the red card to Arthur Masuaku limiting the service he received when leading the line. The Frenchman really needed to highlight his physicality as a lone striker to try and create chances to win the game. Haller definitely did that, and the Hammers failed to take advantage of the counter-attacks presented to them towards the end of the game. The 25-year-old won eight aerial battles in the game according to WhoScored, and finished with three key passes – the most he has completed in a single game so far this season. Those passes definitely proved how Haller can adapt his game to help his teammates when they need him to hold up the ball and create chances instead of getting on the end of them. Leading the line alone is tough at the best of times, but it is even harder with 10 men, and Hargreaves was right to single out the forward for his efforts at Villa Park.
