WHZ View: Meek Masuaku – Problem position exposed again in West Ham win v Leicester
For a third successive game West Ham powered into a three-goal lead but they only narrowly escaped with a 3-2 victory versus Leicester City on Sunday.
The Irons relinquished their advantage against Arsenal on March 23 to draw 3-3 and they nearly did so again last Monday when Wolves pulled it back to 3-2.
David Moyes must be tearing his hair out after he witnessed yet another near- collapse at the London Stadium against the Foxes.
Jesse Lingard’s first-half double sent them into the break two-up before Jarrod Bowen added a third, but Brendan Rodgers’ side refused to back down and scored twice through Kelechi Iheanacho to threaten a late fightback.
The Irons held on but their defensive deficiencies threaten to be their downfall in the race for the top four, and Arthur Masuaku was the most culpable party in East London.
He only returned to first-team action last Monday after a long absence so he is bound to be rusty, but he nearly cost West Ham a crucial three points against Leicester.
At West Ham Zone we have picked out a number of Masuaku moments that left us, and presumably Moyes, on the edge of our seats.
This first one shows him about to receive the ball in his own half, but it ends up in the Foxes’ first goal.
While it may seem like a minimal issue, the fact that he does not adjust his body position to face forwards is crucial in this ceding of possession.
Had he turned out and followed the black arrow above, he would have been facing forwards to set West Ham on an attack.
Instead, his negative and lazy stance allows Ricardo Pereira to close him down, and his options are now limited.
Pereira pounces to take the ball away and it ends up in the feet of Iheanacho who struck a powerful effort past Lukasz Fabianski.
The same opponent outwitted Masuaku once again minutes later.
Here, the Irons wing-back tries to close Pereira down but gets too tight.
With a swift turn of the hips, Pereira sends him away and sets about on a dangerous run.
After offloading the ball to Youri Tielemans he makes a run inside of Craig Dawson and Issa Diop.
Maybe Diop should have been sharper here to recognise the danger, but he was marking Iheneacho and it seems there was a lack of communication.
Masuaku ends up marking no one as Diop tries to deal with Pereira, and it’s a narrow escape for the Irons as the attack fizzles out.
However Masuaku was to be outdone once more for Leicester’s second goal.
Here, Tielemans threads a pass through the West Ham midfield for Marc Albrighton to run onto.
This is perhaps where fitness problems come into play.
We would usually expect Masuaku to be alert and more positive to take the ball before it reaches Albrighton but in his first full game since December 5 [WhoScored], he is slow out the traps in the dying embers of the game.
Albrighton takes it into his path and fashions a cross with Masuaku failing to close him down, and that leads to a second Iheanacho goal.
It did not end up costing West Ham but it ensured a nervy finish to the game and exposes a growing problem in the Irons ranks.
West Ham Zone recently picked apart Aaron Cresswell for failing to tackle the threat of Arsenal down the right, and it seems teams are starting to target West Ham’s left-hand side.
We’re still picking up the points, with seven from a possible nine in the last three, but we must tighten up and sort out this issue or risk it costing us.
In other West Ham news, see our view on Mark Noble’s best games in Claret & Blue.