Blind Hammer looks at Squad Depth Ahead of January.
Despite record investment, the injury curse has hit West Ham again. Two important summer recruits, Sanchez and Yarmolenko have suffered season terminating injuries, whilst Wilshere’s predictable enforced absences have materialised.
Obiang’s absence from the Spurs game exposed our wafer tin midfield and reminded us to his previous injury proneness. A similar injury now to Rice or Noble would place us under enormous pressure.
Parallel pressure is evident up front where Arnautovic is playing through the pain barrier. Hernandez and Antonio are both struggling through injury / illness to find any form.
Predictions for the return of Lanzini are probably as reliable as the perennial optimism as to the imminent availability of Andy Carroll. The sad fact is that for Lanzini, and indeed Yarmolenko a successful return from these serious injuries must be seen as a bonus and not a certainty.
The value of West Ham retaining Snodgrass is evident now he has shown flexibility in covering a variety of midfield roles. Whilst Grady Diangana’s promise is undeniable, we cannot yet build a team around him.
The player we should be building the team around, Anderson, is finding life in the PL difficult. This is not surprising. Last season Mario experienced similar initial challenges.
However Mario eventually showed he could thrive, and I would be knocking on Inter’s door now for his return.
Only 7 days ago I thought left back was a primary recruitment goal, but Cresswell has shown he remains a PL performer, and there are now other priorities.
Centre midfield needs bolstering in addition to Mario’s return. Central defence also seems thin.
Above all we must organise some support for an increasingly frail looking Arnautovic. This is important not just to ensure his season long availability. It is also important to prevent West Ham becoming predictable. We cannot become “one trick pony”. We must prevent opponents strategising “stop Arnautovic, and you will stop West Ham.”
In the summer the last thing we thought we would need was a busy January. This though is the situation we face. We must identify targets now so that they arrive early, rather than late in the window. Solid recruitment is needed rather than speculative expectations of returning injured talent. We cannot gamble on revived performances from long term absentees such as Carroll, Lanzini, and Winston Reid.
Any pruning of a temporarily bloated squad will have to wait until the summer.
COYI
David Griffith