West Ham United are far too reliant on star striker Sebastien Haller and he’s not getting enough support at the moment, according to journalist Sam Inkersole.
The club record signing has excelled since coming to the London Stadium from Eintracht Frankfurt this summer, but Inkersole feels he is on a hiding to nothing at the moment.
“Manuel Lanzini has been underperforming too, with the Hammers becoming heavily reliant on Sebastien Haller,” he wrote on the Football London website. “He’s making the runs, he’s winning his headers, but he’s got no support.
“The sight of the French striker out on the right wing in the second half chasing balls down the channel was one that West Ham fans would have despised seeing. He’s not supposed to be out there, but he was.”
OPINION
It’s hard to argue with Inkersole’s take, here. Haller has huffed and puffed for a few weeks now without getting the type of quality service you would expect from the attacking midfielders operating in behind him. Andriy Yarmolenko has been tremendous, but none of Manuel Lanzini, Felipe Anderson and Pablo Fornals have managed to hit the heights you’d expect them to. While Haller has done a little with a lot, still scoring four goals in eight Premier League games, his lack of support was rammed home by Saturday’s disappointing 2-0 defeat at Everton. The statistics show that the Frenchman is still performing very well, though. As per WhoScored.com, he has got an assist to go with his four goals, while he is averaging 2.4 shots per game and one key pass per outing. Meanwhile, he is being fouled 1.5 times per game on average, demonstrating that the opposition defenders often don’t know how to deal with him. Haller has been great, now his support players need to step up to the plate, as well.
