Julen Lopetegui looks like he may be forced into a rethink at West Ham after only picking up four points from their opening five Premier League fixtures this campaign.
This comes after David Moyes parted with the club at the end of last season, with Lopetegui taking over and looking to implement a more possession-heavy brand of football.
Sadly, it has not gone well. The Hammers have averaged 44.4% possession over their five games, the sixth worst in the league for this metric. This is on top of their 82.8% pass accuracy, the tenth worst in the division.
In order to implement this style of football, the midfield is extremely important to enable you to circulate possession, keep the ball, penetrate through the lines, and also recover in transition to help defend, meaning striking balance in that midfield is Lopetegui’s biggest battle.
West Ham’s midfield disaster against Chelsea
West Ham started the game against Chelsea with Guido Rodriguez and Edson Alvarez as a double pivot pairing, with Lucas Paqueta just in front.
However, after just 33 minutes, Lopetegui had seen enough and took Rodriguez out, bringing Tomas Soucek into the game for some extra physicality in the middle of the park.
The trio of Rodriguez, Alvarez, and Paqueta, lost the ball a total of 29 times, often allowing Chelsea to turn defence to attack quickly, splitting them open and creating big chances, some even ending in goals.
The midfield balance is not being struck, as Paqueta continuously has to drop deep to receive and try to play through the lines. Alvarez and Rodriguez struggle too, whilst a lack of mobility in the pivot stops West Ham defending transitions effectively, often letting teams attack their back four quite easily, with little pressure.
So, what’s the solution?
West Ham’s midfield solution
Luckily for Lopetegui, he could have his fix ready to enter the fray, as Spanish midfielder, Carlos Soler, who joined on loan this summer from PSG made his first appearances in a West Ham shirt in the past week, coming from the bench against Fulham and the Blues.
Soler made 28 appearances for PSG last season in all competitions, scoring two goals, providing four assists, and totaling 1,277 minutes played.
|
Soler (23/24) vs Alvarez & Rodriguez |
|||
|---|---|---|---|
|
Stats (per 90 mins) |
Soler |
Alvarez |
Rodriguez |
|
Passes Attempted |
64.3 |
49.2 |
44.1 |
|
Passes Completed |
55.1 |
43.6 |
36.3 |
|
Pass Accuracy % |
85.7% |
88.6% |
82.3% |
|
xAG |
0.20 |
0.04 |
0.00 |
|
Key Passes |
1.64 |
1.20 |
0.00 |
|
Passes into Final Third |
4.75 |
6.00 |
1.95 |
|
Passes into Pen Area |
1.39 |
0.80 |
0.24 |
|
Tackles |
1.23 |
3.20 |
2.44 |
|
Interceptions |
0.56 |
0.97 |
1.78 |
|
Stats taken from FBref |
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With West Ham having found themselves dropping deeper and deeper to find players that can progress the ball, seeing Paqueta move deep, and even Alvarez dropping into the backline, to receive facing forwards, something needs to change.
That’s where Soler comes into the equation. What he gives you is technical security and a player who can receive on the backfoot to play forward and through.
Whilst both Alvarez and Rodriguez offer better defensive qualities in midfield than Soler, adding the progressive passing and ball security of the Spaniard to control the game alongside one of the more defensive-minded midfielders, would provide a better balance for everyone to succeed.
