WHZ View: 29y/o leaves West Ham in good stead after impressing on int’l duty
West Ham defender Fabian Balbuena impressed on international duty with Paraguay as his country drew 2-2 with Bolivia on Tuesday.
The 29-year-old has been in fine form for the Hammers this season and he hasn’t missed a minute of Premier League action after sitting out of his side’s opening two games.
In his six league appearances, the Paraguayan has helped keep three clean sheets and even managed to grab himself a goal.
He has carried his sparkling form into the current international break as, while he couldn’t help his side to a win against Bolivia, Paraguay would’ve taken nothing from the game without Balbuena.
His individual stats from the game prove this.
Against Bolivia, Balbuena played as the right-hand side centre back and won 100% of his defensive duels and made two clearances in the 104 minutes he played, according to WyScout.
He also made four interceptions against Bolivia which shows how impressive the 29-year-old is at reading passes and stopping balls from getting in behind his defence.
Balbuena also impressed with his feet registering a 93% passing accuracy and he even managed to complete a successful dribble despite playing in the heart of the Paraguay defence.
He is very comfortable on the ball and David Moyes is clearly aware of Balbuena’s talent as he often prefers to play the ball out from the back rather than lumping the ball upfield as the centre back boasts a pass completion rate of 85.6% in competitive games this season.
Overall, against Bolivia, 75% of Balbuena’s total actions were successful which means more often than not anything he tried was successful.
This leaves West Ham in good stead as they prepare to take on Sheffield United this weekend and continue their current run of good form in the Premier League.
Balbuena will be hoping to contribute to another clean sheet for his side after continuing his personal good form while away with his country.
In other West Ham news, Karen Brady has shared an update on how the club’s finances are suffering due to the COVID-19 pandemic.