Today being ‘Move-On Monday“- looking forward instead of back, there are indeed strengths to this West Ham team and it is important to keep those in mind. Some of the performances can improve, will improve as we have been told on player social media accounts by everyone from Alvarez to Soler at the weekend, so let’s start looking at where we are strong.
Michael Owen, pictured, whos opinion is based on being one of the top strikers of his era, considers the deployment of Aaron Wan Bissaka as an advanced wing back, suggests that he should be playing to his strengths instead.
From Football365, Says Owen of Wan-Bissaka:
I think he’s brilliant, he’s probably the best right-back defensively in the country, in the Premier League.
“But if you’re going to ask somebody to get up wide and high and come inside and play central, I don’t know why you’d get Wan-Bissaka. That’s not his game – his game is plugging the gaps, he’s not letting anything past, he’s a brilliant defender, he’s not brilliant going forward.
Whilst former Hammer Jermain Defoe voiced a similar opinion:
I can’t remember seeing Wan-Bissaka play like that ever. I can’t remember the amount of times I’ve seen him running back towards his own goal; he’s never probably played like that before. I think with him, you speak about one vs one defending, he probably has to stay in his position and probably make it a little bit difficult.
“It was weird how high he played, in certain moments he was playing inverted inside.”
Wan-Bissaka at his best, a ‘brilliant’ defender – has the chance to shine in his natural right back position away at Liverpool next. Common sense will prevail and Hammers’ set up can allow some of these players to show their abilities. He has already picked up one ‘Man of The Match’ performance in his handful of games at West Ham since making the move back to London.