West Ham legend Frank McAvennie has described Kurt Zouma and Konstantinos Mavropanos as “pathetic”, in a rant aimed at the Hammers duo.
The east Londoners have had more of a hit-and-miss season compared to last time around, not quite kicking on from their memorable UEFA Europa Conference League success in 2022/23.
In the Premier League, West Ham still sit seventh in the table and performances have often been inconsistent, with pressure growing on manager David Moyes.
A number of players arguably haven’t consistently found their best form throughout the campaign, and two individuals have seemingly rubbed McAvennie up the wrong way.
Speaking to Football Insider, the former West Ham striker laid into Zouma and Mavropanos, bemoaning their performances of late:
“That defence – oh my God. Mavropanos gives gifts away every week – and Zouma. Those two at the back are not proper players sometimes and West Ham will concede goals when they play.
“I’m not confident of getting a clean sheet, they’re pathetic, dreadful, sometimes. You need to have a solid back four if you have these attacking players. I like Coufal, I always have.
“But those two boys in the middle, surely Ogbonna is better than them? What’s happened to him? Mavropanos and Zouma look like they can’t run.”
While McAvennie’s criticism may arguably be a little over-the-top, Zouma and Mavropanos are still two players who should feel as though improvements are required between now and the end of the season.
The former is out of contract in the summer of 2025, so a big decision needs to made with him in the coming months, either offering him an extension or selling him while West Ham can still receive a good fee.
Meanwhile, Mavropanos is on a longer-term deal until 2028, so there is no great rush to consider his future, and he will look to be more of a regular moving forward, having only started 10 Premier League games this season.
The Hammers duo need to be a more formidable centre-back pairing in these remaining months of the campaign, or Moyes’ men may have to wave goodbye to qualifying for Europe again, as well as going far in this season’s Europa League.
