McAvennie blasts Neville as West Ham ace Coufal misses out on team of season
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 blasted Gary Neville for naming Manchester City’s Kyle Walker over West Ham right-back Vladimir Coufal in his team of the season.
Speaking on Sky Sports last week, Neville opted to name Walker, 30, in the right-back role in his team of the season while Jamie Carragher chose Hammers star Coufal.
Since arriving in East London, the 28-year-old has been in superb form, assisting six goals in 32 Premier League appearances.
Walker, however, has failed to play consistently for Man City, starting just 21 Premier League matches and scoring once and assisting once.
McAvennie believes Neville has shown a major bias towards Manchester-based players in his team and cannot understand how Coufal didn’t get in the team over Walker.
Speaking to West Ham Zone, the ex-Irons striker said: “Neville just put in Man United and Man City players – if [Harry] Maguire is the best centre-half this season then I’ve been watching the wrong football.
“I don’t know how they pick these players.
“Coufal for me has been magnificent. Walker’s a brilliant player but Coufal has been brilliant this season. So has [Tomas] Soucek to be fair but I couldn’t argue with the players in the midfield, there are some good players in there.
“For me, Coufal’s done better than Walker at right-back.
“All Man City do is attack, they play in your half and don’t have a lot of defending to do.
“I know who I’d pick and Walker’s a brilliant player, don’t get me wrong. But maybe I’m old fashioned and I like my full-backs to defend rather than being a winger.”
According to stats by WhoScored, Coufal has averaged more tackles, interceptions and clearances per appearance than Walker this season while the Man City ace has been dribbled past fewer times on average and made more blocks per game.
Going forward, Coufal has averaged more key passes, won more fouls and been dispossessed fewer times per Premier League outing.
It’s pretty clear that Neville is favouring players from both clubs in Manchester with Walker’s inclusion just as baffling as Fernandes’.
In other West Ham news, Neville has shared a big claim about Manchester United and Jesse Lingard.
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