West Ham United v Tottenham: David Moyes needs to hook 0% player, Joe Cole rightly worried
David Moyes needs to take decisive action at half-time if West Ham are to pick up the win they crave against Tottenham.
The sides went into the interval in Tuesday’s (2 April) derby at London Stadium level at 1-1 after Kurt Zouma cancelled out Brennan Johnson’s opener.
West Ham did well to grow into the contest after a slow start, but there are still signs that Tottenham could easily score another goal or two.
West Ham fail to deal with James Maddison
As Joe Cole pointed out on TNT Sports’ live coverage of the game [2 April, 8:38pm], United badly lacked any sort of midfield control, particularly highlighted by Johnson’s opener.
“James Ward-Prowse and Tomas Soucek have excellent attributes, but getting tight to players… the goal came from that,” Cole said.
“James Maddison just ghosted past Ward-Prowse and played it to Rodrigo Bentancur, who ghosted past Soucek.
“They were then straight at West Ham’s defence. They’re playing through West Ham and it’s worrying. They need to take control of that area of the pitch.”
The obvious suggestion would be to replace Soucek or Ward-Prowse, but that would not exactly solve the issue.
With Edson Alvarez not available, Kalvin Phillips would be ideally suited to slipping into the engine room to provide some further cover in that area.
Phillips has been pretty terrible for the Irons since arriving, but United are paying a lot of money for him and there is a quality player in there somewhere.
Michail Antonio should make way for West Ham
That then begs the question of who comes off? On the basis of the opening 45 minutes, it is a pretty easy answer: Michail Antonio.
The Jamaica international had zero shots in the first half and was successful from exactly zero per cent of his two attempted dribbles [Sofascore].
In fact, Antonio had just 16 touches of the ball – only Konstantinos Mavropanos (15) had fewer among outfield players – and completed just three passes.
Moyes would surely be better suited to using Mohammed Kudus, Lucas Paqueta and Jarrod Bowen in a flexible front three up top with some guile and creativity behind them.
It would be a big call from the Scotsman – and West Ham have not exactly played terribly since equalising – but it is an area the visitors will no doubt look to exploit in the second half if not rectified.
In other West Ham news, Gabby Agbonlahor has told Moyes what he needs to do next with Phillips.
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