*Blind Hammer is worried about West Ham’s defensive Squad Analysis.
David Gold’s interview with TalkSport this week was revealing for a number of reasons. Before I start my critique of what appears to be the plan for squad development at West Ham I want to stress that I personally believe we are lucky to have 2 committed and devoted West Ham fans owning our club. I would prefer a hundred times more Gold and Sullivan rather than the tainted Oil money associated with a Russian Oligarch, or a Qatari Monarchical dictatorship. I am old fashioned enough to believe Human Rights are important and every season I give thanks that we have not sold our corporate soul in this respect.
This does not prevent me constructively criticising the recruitment strategy when I believe it is skewed. Listening to David Gold’s analysis of our squad he basically argued that;
1. Our defence is fine.
2. Our midfield is fine.
3. Our weakness is up front where we have injury prone forwards.
4. As a result of this weakness we flirted with relegation.
I could not disagree more with this analysis. It is obvious that we flirted with relegation last year but the evidence that this was due to our attacking weaknesses simply does not hold water.
Our flirting with relegation was far more to do with our defensive weaknesses. We consistently shipped goals throughout the season, apparently conceding more points from winning positions than any other team in the Premiership. During our worsts runs we were conceding an average 3 goals a game. As I said in a recent post, if we now recruited Ronaldo and Messy it is likely we would still flirt with relegation if we replicated this defensive performance.
The obsession with Carroll’s and Sacko’s injury records is well known. What baffles me is the apparent blindness we have to similar injury records in our defence. Obonna was missing for half a season last year, the half of the season he did play was apparently through the pain barrier. Collins was unavailable for large parts of last season with recurrence of his yearly hamstring problems. Reid was similarly in and out of the team with injury, with surgery finally being offered to help his back problem. Fonte only came to us after a lengthy period of injury for Southampton, during which he lost his place in their first team. All of these four have records of missing significant portions of the season due to injury problems. I won’t even bother looking at similar injury problems for Byram, Cresswell and Arthur Masuaku who all missed large parts of the season. Our injury record in defence is dreadful.
This frail central defensive quartet is the backbone on which we are planning to cover our defensive requirements next season. This would perhaps be just about supportable if we had a definite game plan of only playing 2 out of these 4 in a flat back 4 for the entire season.
However if the plan is to build the squad around this single option for a flat back 4, I am even more worried. The only periods of last season that we appeared to gain some semblance of defensive discipline and solidity was when we reverted to 3 at the back in the latter parts of the season. Fonte in particular only started to resemble an international performer of quality whilst operating in the security of a back 3.
If we are to play 3 at the back for any sustained part of next season is it is obvious that 4 injury prone options to cover these 3 positions is simply not enough. 4 defensive options into 3 positions do not cut it in a squad of 25.
The club have apparently decided that Burke can go to Bolton and Oxford to Germany to further their development. This may be the correct path for their longer term development but this leaves the even less experienced Declan Rice as the fall back if the injury jinx which has beset our central defensive performers rears its ugly head again.
Of course I want a 20 goal striker as much as the next West ham fan but it is time to bang the drum and remind people that the real horror of some of our performances last year were not because of problems up front but in the abysmal defending against not only top 6 sides but throughout the season. We tend to blot out these because of the pain but remember we lost after leading not only against Spurs but against teams like Watford at home. West Ham should never concede 4 goals to Watford, especially at home. Recruit the striker, that is fine, but ignoring the defence may be one of the most ill-advised decisions in our history. It may dwarf the poor transfer priorities of last summer which resulted in disastrous recruitment. If we completely ignore the weakest part of our team this may result in a further season of struggle and negativity.
COYI
David Griffith