Exclusive: McAvennie wants Nolan to work on Haller in West Ham training
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…
Frank McAvennie has called on Sebastien Haller to get himself in the box on more occasions than he has been for West Ham.
Haller, 26, is likely to start in the striker role against Leeds on Friday after David Moyes confirmed that Michail Antonio is a doubt for the game at Elland Road.
However, McAvennie is concerned about Haller’s impact in the attack when West Ham have the ball in wide positions.
Moyes’ men have impressive since switching to a 3-4-2-1 formation that sees Arthur Masuaku and Vladimir Coufal bombing on down the wings as wing-backs and Aaron Cresswell supplying support as the left-sided centre-back.
According to stats by WyScout, West Ham rank fifth in the Premier League for the number of crosses put into the box this season [181] while they also boast the second-best cross accuracy [37%].
But Haller is not doing enough to get on the end of those crosses, according to McAvennie, who wants to see coach Kevin Nolan drill into the striker that he needs to get himself in the box more often.
“I know it’s the way football is played these days but you’ve got wing-backs who get wide and put balls into the box and if Haller’s not there, they stop doing it,” McAvennie told West Ham Zone.
“He’s 6ft 3 for God’s sake. I don’t want him coming to the ball because he’s not that good – that’s not his strength.
“His strength isn’t coming to get the ball. Antonio will get free-kicks but if someone comes into Haller he’s not going to get free-kicks because he’s a big lad.
“I would say Kevin Nolan should get hold of him and say ‘look, when the boys are playing down the right or down the left, go and get yourself in the box’.
“I don’t think many people would beat Haller in the air.”
WyScout shows that only Oli McBurnie [17.95] has been involved in more aerial duels per 90 minutes this season than Haller [14.06] has done in the Premier League.
However, as you can see from the heatmap below, Haller does spend a lot of time with the ball outside of the penalty area and dropping deep like McAvennie explained.
Moyes’ tactics will play a role in Haller dropping deep but the onus is on the player and the coaching staff too so you have to agree with McAvennie’s point.
In other West Ham news, the Irons could target ex-Tottenham playmaker Christian Eriksen in January.