Irons-mad broadcaster Sam Delaney wants West Ham to sign new No 10
West Ham-mad broadcaster Sam Delaney believes the Irons are one signing away from having a completed starting XI on the U Irons podcast.
Reviewing Tuesday night’s win against West Brom, Delaney and The Athletic’s West Ham correspondent Roshane Thomas agreed on the U Irons Podcast that a number 10 is all that’s missing from David Moyes’ side.
“There are games, last night included, where we failed to score as many goals as we should have done,” said Delaney.
“Games that we’ve actually lost, like against Chelsea, Manchester United, Arsenal, even against Liverpool, we should have been a couple of goals up at halftime but in-fact we went on to lose these games.
“It’s because we lack that killer instinct and when teams drop back against us we don’t quite have that final ball.
“It seems to be just because of one position, that number 10 is something we should look at.”
Current options don’t quite cut it
David Moyes has successfully put together one of the strongest sides in West Ham’s recent history. Right now, 10 of the starting XI pick themselves, but he hasn’t quite settled on that number 10 role.
During his first spell with us, Moyes was a big fan of Manuel Lanzini. The Argentine scored five times and got four assists during the Scot’s first reign.
Sadly, Lanzini hasn’t been anything like that player since his injury on international duty, just after Moyes left us in summer 2018.
Last night’s lacklustre showing from Manu was rather concerning. In the last couple of seasons, he hasn’t done much more than score the wonder-goal away to Spurs.
Another player tried through the middle has been Pablo Fornals. He’s a player who divides opinion, doesn’t quite have that cutting edge but you can’t deny his work ethic.
It seemed harsh to leave him out of the side after his strong performance against Burnley in which he assisted the winner.
Said Benrahma is a player you’d have thought would slot into our number 10 role. The Algerian’s yet to score for the Hammers, creating just two assists in 11 Premier League appearances.
He scored 17 goals and assisted six last season in the Championship for Brentford. Maybe given time he will start to produce this form in front of goal.
In other West Ham news, here are three things we learned in the 2-1 win at home to West Brom.