WHZ View: West Ham won’t progress unless Moyes sorts out problem area
West Ham have made a better start to the season than many Hammers fans will have expected when they first saw their opening seven fixtures.
David Moyes’ side sit 14th in the Premier League table and sit five points clear of the relegation zone.
Considering the Hammers have made it through games against Manchester City, Liverpool, Arsenal and Leicester and they aren’t in the bottom three, it can be counted as a successful start to the season.
But that’s not to say that it couldn’t have been better and there is one aspect of this Hammers side that still needs to make a drastic improvement.
The defence has let the side down on numerous occasions this season and it cost them a point at Anfield on Saturday.
You could argue that the defence has actually done ok considering the backline only conceded one goal to Man City and kept Leicester and Wolves at bay, but if West Ham are to properly kick on and drag themselves away from the relegation places, they need to improve at the back.
It was evident from the first game of the season that the defence needed improving after Newcastle ran riot and the Magpies really should have scored more than the two goals they did.
But no new centre backs arrived following failed bids for James Tarkowski and Wesley Fofana. What did change was the system Moyes used, he’s started to play Aaron Cresswell as a third centre back while utilising a back five.
This lead to a slight improvement in the defence as the backline kept successive league clean sheets against Wolves and Leicester, but the same frailties were present when the defence was torn apart by Harry Kane and Son Heung-Min.
Angelo Ogbonna and Fabian Balbuena still don’t look entirely comfortable when under pressure as their poor communication directly lead to one of the goals against Tottenham.
It is hard for Moyes to improve his side drastically outside of the transfer window but with games against Fulham, Sheffield United and Aston Villa, the Hammers boss has the perfect opportunity to solidify his backline against weaker opposition.
If the defence can keep at least two clean sheets in those three upcoming games it will show that West Ham won’t have to worry about picking up points against bottom-half clubs and it could signal that there won’t be any relegation fears at the London Stadium this season.
In other West Ham news, the Hammers are reportedly close to tying up a deal for a young Danish defender.