Benrahma should have started in West Ham loss v Man Utd – Frank McAvennie
We’re delighted to welcome former West Ham United striker Frank McAvennie as our exclusive columnist. Each week he’ll be giving his views on the biggest talking points at the London Stadium…
Said Benrahma should have started for West Ham when they lost 1-0 to Manchester United last week, according to Frank McAvennie.
Jesse Lingard was ineligible and Pablo Fornals was injured for the trip to Old Trafford, forcing David Moyes into a few changes to his side.
However, McAvennie was less than pleased by Moyes’ defensive line-up to take on Man United.
The ex-Hammers forward believes Benrahma or Manuel Lanzini would have been better choices in the midfield than Ben Johnson or Mark Noble.
Speaking exclusively to West Ham Zone, McAvennie said: “I would have played Benrahma or Lanzini in the midfield before you play Johnson in there or Noble.
“It was obvious he was picking a defensive line-up, you could tell that straight away.
“I’m looking at Man United’s defence and looking at Harry Maguire, in my day I would have loved to have played against him.
“[Michail] Antonio didn’t get a chance to play without Lingard getting close to him, I would have definitely played Benrahma or even Lanzini, someone who can get the ball and get on the end of it to make something happen.”
For all the praise Moyes’ signings have had at the London Stadium, Benrahma is someone who is yet to fully convince.
The 25-year-old arrived in East London on an initial loan deal from Brentford in October before his stay was made permanent in January to accommodate Lingard’s temporary switch to West Ham.
However, Benrahma has struggled to nail down a regular spot in Moyes’ side and has started just 10 Premier League matches this season and only one of the last five matches in the top-flight.
Benrahma lit up the Championship last season for Brentford but is yet to score a goal in West Ham’s colours.
While there was no guarantee he’d have had an impact at Old Trafford, West Ham would have surely stood a better chance of a result versus Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side with him in the side instead of Noble.
Hopefully Moyes will have learned that with another big game to play this weekend when Arsenal visit the London Stadium.
In other West Ham news, our panel of Super Fans want to see Pablo Fornals return to the starting line-up against Arsenal.