Former England international Danny Mills has admitted that he feels for ‘forlorn’ West Ham United striker Sebastien Haller at the moment.
The club record signing has scored just once since August as his form has tumbled in tandem with his team’s. Sky Sports pundit Mills feels the Frenchman has been starved of service.
“It’s tough when you’re a lone centre-forward playing in a team that isn’t playing particularly well, you need service,” he told Football Insider. “You need the team to play well around you and if they don’t…it makes it very very difficult.
“You can run around all you like, but you’re in the team as a centre-forward to be in the box, to put the ball in the back of the net and you’re relying on your teammates, you’re relying on service to make that happen. And yes when you’re not getting that service, you can look a little bit forlorn, you can look a little bit exasperated at times.
“But he is a quality striker and if West Ham can work it, give him the opportunities, give him the chances, then without a doubt he’ll score goals.”
OPINION
There’s no doubt that Haller hasn’t been helped by the lacklustre performances of his teammates recently. He has been getting next to no service, with the likes of Felipe Anderson, Andriy Yarmolenko and Pablo Fornals failing to fire over the past couple of months. All strikers need their midfielders to provide chances for them, and that’s not been happening recently. Having said that, we saw the difference in this West Ham team when Michail Antonio came into the side against Chelsea. The 29-year-old was able to spark some life into this Hammers side, something which was then sucked away again when Haller returned against Wolverhampton Wanderers last Wednesday. It’s strange, because the statistics don’t quite demonstrate how lacklustre Haller has been of late. As per WhoScored.com, the 25-year-old is averaging 2.1 shots per game with a WhoScored rating of 7.10. That’s not exactly horrible, yet he’s disappointed.
