WHZ View: West Ham defender Dawson needed the international break
The international break can be a frustrating time for players, but no one needed the time off more than West Ham centre-back Craig Dawson.
The 30-year-old made the loan switch from Watford in the summer transfer window. He hadn’t featured once for the Hammers until late December in our 0-0 draw away to Southampton.
Following a clean sheet on his debut, Dawson has gone on to play the full 90 minutes of the 13 Premier League games since. In that time, we’ve taken 27 points from a possible 42 and he’s looked a world-class signing.
It’s only been in the last two games that some cracks are appearing to show. He scored own-goals against Manchester United and Arsenal and was appearing to look a bit tired given how much he’s played lately.
Dawson made some costly errors at Old Trafford. He should have cleared his lines when a ball flashed across the penalty area but opted to leave it for Vladimir Coufal to deal with. From the resulting corner, Dawson headed past Lukasz Fabianski and United took all three points.
He’ll be having nightmares about Mason Greenwood for weeks too. The Man United youngster was in excellent form at Old Trafford, and in all honesty, ran rings around Dawson. Twice he stole a march on the centre back, twice the post came to his rescue. Not his best evening, but he’s been good enough that we can say it was an off day.
Unfortunately, it wasn’t back to business as usual against Arsenal. If anything, this performance was far more alarming. After steaming ahead into an early three-goal lead, we drew 3-3 and all of the goals were avoidable.
Dawson didn’t cover himself in glory on the day. His second own goal in as many games was unfortunate, as he lashed home emphatically past Fabianski.
This isn’t the sort of defending we’ve become used to seeing from Dawson. He’s been nothing short of excellent since making his debut and has even scored three Premier League goals.
His last two performances have indicated that he was in need of a rest. Dawson began his time with West Ham by playing so well next to Angelo Ogbonna. He’s been without the Italian for two months, and Fabien Balbuena has struggled for fitness too.
As we’ve lacked for cover, the Englishman has featured heavily since the turn of the year and it’s beginning to take its toll.
Hopefully, the two-week international period has allowed him time to rest and focus on the task ahead. With just nine games left, we can absolutely qualify for Europe.
If we’re to do so, Dawson needs to be on top form. He’s been one of the surprises of the season and is becoming a real fan favourite.
In other West Ham news, this teenage sensation is making waves in the academy set-up.