OPINION
When West Ham United goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski went down injured against Bournemouth towards the end of September, it was viewed as a disaster for the Hammers.
However, even that was perhaps underselling the loss the Poland international would be to Manuel Pellegrini’s side. Indeed, his team have claimed just one point in four games since.
It’s the woeful play of back-up goalkeeper Roberto which has really harmed the Irons in recent weeks, although other players have been below-par to say the least, as well.
Former England international Paul Robinson spelled out the sorry situation the east London outfit are in with their goalkeeper on Friday.
“I thought he was very poor against Newcastle. Not just in the goals but his all-round play – his distribution, his decision making,” he told Football Insider.
The Sky Sports pundit has revealed the big problem Pellegrini has going into Saturday’s clash with Burnley. We all know Roberto has been awful, particularly so against Newcastle last time out, but the only other fit senior ‘keeper at the club is David Martin, who is yet to play a competitive game for West Ham.
Plus, Pellegrini has put huge faith in the Spaniard. It would go against his pride and see him lose face were he to snub Roberto for the Englishman against Sean Dyche’s side.
But something needs to be done. The statistics demonstrate how poor the former Espanyol man has been recently. As per WhoScored.com, Roberto has made only four saves in five games this term, with only 0.4 of them being close ranges saves from within the six-yard box.
So he’s not making saves with huge degrees of difficulty. Indeed, he failed to keep out Jonjo Shelvey’s long-range free-kick when he should have done last week. Plus, he didn’t get anywhere near the cross which led to Federico Fernandez’s goal in that game too.
This is a real issue for West Ham, but one that appears to have no imminent solution with Pellegrini and his misguided loyalty in charge.
