The slow, stodgy midfield at West Ham United is a known problem for whoever succeeds Julen Lopetegui in December. In fact I’d go so far as to say it is the priority for the club: More important than a striker, more important than a new left back or ‘fourth’ centre back. The choices against Newcastle United are stark – pick any three from the the Alvarez- Rodriguez-Paquetá-Soler-Soucek combination and on past performance the resulting pair-or trio- offers a solution that is listless and porous in defence and a creativity-free zone going forward.
So I’m not sure if Josh Brownhill offers West Ham anything more. The Burnley captain is a hard worker and a willing if not express runner but therein lies the problem.
I’ll freely admit to not knowing much about him myself-so I took a sneaky look at Burnley fan site ‘uptheclarets.com’ for some informed fan opinion, and was a tad concerned, as any West Ham fan will be, with the opinions of his own fans-some from last year, some from this:
- “Stood watching his runner. Isn’t Prem quality in my opinion.”
- Another laid on the irony: “He’s vital to our team, if our team is in the Championship.”
- No holding back with this: “No pace, little creativity, not physical enough against the more mobile and athletic midfielders and his set pieces are nothing short of appalling. Significant upgrade required, the sooner the better.”
Fair to say the ‘no pace’ is a recurring theme, which worries me for obvious reasons!
I’m starting to look at these reports with more concern – the initial excitement of news of any possible upgrade on the status quo at West Ham now gives way to a worry that we will settle for ‘average’.
I’m now quietly hoping previous reports linking the Hammers with more mobile midfielders James McAtee or Javi Guerra are more like the direction of travel.
Both offer pace and creativity which is where West Ham are deficient: I’m hoping Steidten learns the lesson of August.
Another Championship-sourced Guido Rodriguez 2.0 is the last thing we need, even if he is cheap. (£11 million according to tbrfootball.com) You get what you pay for!
