Frank McAvennie singles out West Ham player who underwhelmed him v Sheff U
West Ham striker Sebastien Haller had to do more to relieve the pressure on his defence against Sheffield United on Friday night, according to Frank McAvennie.
The Frenchman had a goal disallowed for offside in the 1-0 defeat to the Blades, and went close with a headed effort late on, but was unable to pull his side level.
The Hammers then went through the agony of seeing a late equaliser chalked off for a very soft handball on Declan Rice in the build-up.
But McAvennie singled out Haller for his ineffectiveness at Bramall Lane.
Writing on his personal Twitter account during the game, he said: "Need more effort from some of [the] West Ham boys and Haller has to keep hold of the ball to take a bit of pressure off [the] defence".
Did Haller do enough against Sheffield United?
Look, let's be frank here - even with the two goals that were chalked off, the Hammers probably didn't deserve to get anything out of this one.
It was a poor display, all things considered, and that wasn't just down to Haller's general lack of input.
That being said, he shouldn't be entirely admonished either.
The big man won a remarkable 19 aerial duels against the Blades, as per Whoscored, but his pass completion rate was just 50%, and he was dispossessed four times with a further two unsuccessful touches.
In short, his initial challenging is almost second to none, but his retention of possession leaves a lot to be desired.
Whether that is entirely his fault, or whether he suffers from being too isolated at times is a matter of debate, but either way, David Moyes has to find a better way to utilise the target man, or his side are going to continue to struggle.