‘No disrespect but…’ – McAvennie claims Arsenal targetted West Ham ace Cresswell
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 left-back Aaron Cresswell to block more crosses after West Ham found themselves exposed on the left against Arsenal last week.
The Hammers were 3-0 up after just over half-an-hour of action but succumbed to a 3-3 draw on Sunday with the Gunners scoring all of their goals at the London Stadium from playing the ball down the left.
McAvennie claims it’s likely the Gunners exposed one of Cresswell’s weaknesses in that the Irons left-back struggles to stop crosses from getting into the penalty area.
“No disrespect but they’ve obviously targetted [Cresswell] to see if they can get at him,” McAvennie told West Ham Zone in an exclusive interview.
“The first thing you’ve got to do as a defender, mainly the full-backs, is to stop the cross. Arsenal aren’t the biggest team in the world and they cannot score if you stop it. It’s different at a corner but so what? You’ve got time to regroup and know what you’re doing at corners.
“He needs to stop the crosses, I think that’s the biggest problem. They put their body on the line when it’s in front of goal but you’ve got to do that on the wings as well.
“Cresswell’s been playing well but he didn’t cover himself in glory. But, you know what? He’ll go again.”
McAvennie then joked: “I’m very reluctant to have a go at any of them, I think the manager made it too defensive and what’s when Arsenal got on top.
“Let’s blame the manager.
“No, I’ve not got anything about David [Moyes] but against the big teams he’s been a wee bit more defensive than what he should have done.”
Cresswell has been in good form for West Ham this season, especially in an attacking sense.
The former Ipswich left-back has assisted seven goals in his 29 Premier League appearances, more than any other defender in England’s top-flight.
While his delivery into the box is impeccable, it’s pretty clear that Cresswell isn’t as strong when doing his defensive duties and that is something West Ham fans have become accustomed to over the years.
Moyes seems to have tried to nullify Cresswell’s weakness by playing centre-backs who are strong in the air like Craig Dawson, who learned from the best under Tony Pulis at West Brom.
But, sometimes, it doesn’t go your way and you get unlucky as the Hammers did versus Arsenal.
In other West Ham news, our panel of Super Fans were blown away by Jesse Lingard’s performance for England on Thursday.