West Ham frailties exposed by David Moyes’ formation change
David Moyes surprised many West Ham fans by changing his trusted 4-2-3-1 formation in the 3-1 defeat against Southampton in favour of the 3-5-2.
An injury to Aaron Cresswell forced the Scot’s hand and he operated with Ben Johnson and Pablo Fornals in the wing-back positions as Kurt Zouma, Craig Dawson and Issa Diop played in the centre.
As you can see from the scoreline, it didn’t really help the Hammers at St Mary’s as they were knocked out of the FA Cup in the fifth round.
We currently don’t know if Cresswell will return for this weekend’s trip to Anfield to face Liverpool but fans will hope he is because the new system hasn’t worked.
Ralph Hasenhuttl’s side were able to expose gaps in the Irons backline despite making nine changes compared to Moyes’ two on a worrying night in the Solent.
The opening goal of the game was the perfect example of the problem as Saints left-back Romain Perraud was left in acres of space before drilling a piledriver into the top corner.
If the Hammers had continued with their 4-2-3-1, Jarrod Bowen would be covering Perraud as the right-winger but he was upfront last night which left Johnson with two players.
Here, he has followed Moussa Djenepo inside and allowed the Frenchman far too much time to pick his spot.
Compare that to the space Wolves got at the weekend when he did play with a traditional back four and there is very little room for the man in gold.
In attack, however, it is a different story.
Previously, the full-backs have been told to stay behind the winger as can be seen here from the Irons 1-0 win against Wolves.
Last night though, Fornals was the furthest forward player on a number of occasions as he fitted into the left wing-back role very comfortably considering he hasn’t played there before.
This system has potential for West Ham but they have to be careful to not be too exposed, especially considering Liverpool’s attacking talent out wide ahead of this weekend’s contest.
In other West Ham news, the Irons are battling Celtic for the signing of this Drogba-esque talent from the EFL.