Blind Hammer considers who to retain out of our squad enigmas
In over half a century of supporting West Ham I do not think I can recall a squad with so many enigmas. That is, players who seem a busted flush one day, but a match winner the next. Hart is the latest example, advancing recently to hero only to instantly retreat to zero. His point saving performance against Chelsea blotted by a calamitous mistake which finally destroyed any prospect of a longer term West ham future. Hart’s inconsistency, gifting Stoke a lead, threatened to pitch our precarious season into a final and terminal decline at the death.
Fortunately an even more enigmatic performer re-emerged, marching in turn from zero to hero. Carroll’s dramatic 90th minute equaliser reignited yet again the case for his retention, recovering some of his recent reputational damage in a blink of an eye. Impatience with Carroll’s awful injury record has recently increased with whispers that some of these problems are self-inflicted. Irritation if not anger has grown with allegations of poor lifestyle discipline. Many West Ham fans and commentators have suggested it is time for Carroll to move on. In particular repeated reports of inappropriate drinking have led to suspicion that his poor injury and recovery resilience has been further weakened by avoidable alcohol intake. Worries grew that Carroll did not respect his body, his career or West ham. Actions spoke louder than words, choosing to drink in bars seemed to demonstrate a poor commitment in return for the drawing of his massive wages.
The problem is that our squad is top heavy with enigmatic performers. Carroll has been joined this season by Hernandez on even higher wages. Despite the many calls for Hernandez to start against Stoke Moyes would never take this risk. Not only is West Ham’s record with Hernandez starting in the team less than Stella, it is clear to nearly everybody, with the possible exception of West Ham supporters, that West Ham’s most strategic weakness not just this season, but for nearly 2 and a half years now, is their appalling defence. West Ham have been thumped not just by top six sides but regularly conceded heavily against moderate or poor sides. Only recently our defence shipped 7 goals against the combined might of Burnley and Swansea. Stoke are one of the tiny number of sides, and the only one below us, who actually have a worst defence than us. Given what was at stake it was fanciful that Moyes would take the risk of opening up midfield against Stoke in the hope of running an exciting, expansive game. Whilst you cannot plan or legislate effectively if your goalkeeper consistently makes howlers, in general such an approach would have left us even more vulnerable to a sucker punch. Lambert has similarly tightened up Stoke and it was predictably an edgy affair. Hernandez has proved that he is a powerful weapon to deploy from the bench and in that capacity he almost repeated his successful intervention against Chelsea.
Unfortunately it appears that Antonio has joined our growing casts of enigmas. Antonio has fitness issues. However, analogous to Carroll, whispers and rumours have emerged that reflect on Antonio’s allegedly poor attitude to training. On one occasion his lateness for a team meeting was outed publically by Moyes, possibly in an attempt to shock the player. Whatever the cause Antonio has retreated from the performances which made him one of the biggest and most consistent stars at the club to a player who sparkles occasionally but more frequently disappoints.
All of these players can, on their day, deliver match winning or point saving performances. None of them are, for various reasons, delivering these performances consistently. Match winners do not come cheap and West Ham will not for the foreseeable future, and probably never, be able to purchase from the top drawer of match winning global talents. We are likely to rely upon enigmas to some extent. Certainly West Ham cannot afford to be tactically a one trick pony, relying solely on the skills of a Marko Arnautovic. Teams would rapidly “work us out”. Alternative match interventions from the bench will remain critical.
So who out of our cast list of enigmas should we retain? Sadly hart has finally proved that his standards have declined, and that his confidence, concentration and distribution identified as issues at Manchester City are long term. Despite extended opportunities to demonstrate he has overcome these issues at Torino and West Ham, he has failed to show he is a keeper of premiership standard. A keeper cannot simply rely on making outstanding saves whilst failing to address other weaknesses.
The case against Carroll relies on his poor injury resilience and his reported wages. Despite this I am not persuaded that West Ham should jettison him. Despite making a tiny number of appearances this season, his goals against West Brom and Stoke may well be the factor which keeps us up this season. Where would we be now if we have had to launch Hugehill and not Carroll into the fray against Stoke? Even if Carroll is on the reported full £85,000 a week, unlikely given his lack of bonuses and game time, this would still equate to only £4.5 million a season. In other words approximately 50% of the transfer fee we paid for the services of Jordon Hugehill from Preston in January. Whilst £4.5 million is not chicken feed, where else are we likely to recruit the abilities of a player able to influence games in such dramatic fashion?
Carroll is more likely to fit into a Moyes game plan. However there should be no expectations that he has the requisite injury resilience or body capacity to be a regular starter for West Ham or any other Premiership outfit. West Ham should deploy him in precisely the way Chelsea wanted to. He should be seen as a squad player, playing not all games but with the priceless ability to enter games and provide telling match winning or saving contributions. His next contract with West Ham should reflect this. It should be heavily skewed to a pay as you play deal.
Of course much of the above applies to Hernandez as well. I would love to retain Hernandez but doubt that Moyes could ever plan a starting team based around him. On wages reportedly nearly double that which Carroll currently draws it may well be that Hernandez is simply not a fit at West Ham, though if he was willing to stay in the impact role I would keep him in a heartbeat.
This finally leaves Antonio. I really hope that this season’s fall from grace is not about attitude and is about fitness. We can all have sympathy for Antonio not being played in a position to his strengths but professionals sort this out in a professional way. Fitness can recover, attitude may be impossible to amend. My instinct is that Antonio is another who may be reaching the exit door, though I would love to seem the surging Antonio of old again.
COYI
David Griffith