Are the Irons Ready for the Travails of the Europa League?

Playing in one of Europe’s top two continental competitions is a tremendous honour, with West Ham United making their way into the Europa League by virtue of their sixth place finish last season.

However, battling it out with some of the best clubs across Europe and the cash that comes with it, can cause troubles at home. West Ham look to be playing over 50 games next season, compared to the 43 games of last season within the same timeframe. It might not seem like a tremendous increase, but when you factor in the late-week matches of the Europa League and the potential travelling, the squad will feel the burn. So, is this current Irons team ready for the challenge of competing at home and abroad, even if the European competition starts and ends in the group stage?

The perils of not reinforcing a smaller squad

Last season, Moyes only deployed 24 players in the Premier League, placing as the joint-second fewest count. Relatively few injuries helped in this regard, but more games mean more fatigue and a greater chance of injury sustained by any regular player.

Improving on the centre back corps with Craig Dawson signing permanently and releasing Fabián Balbuena was a fair move, and Alphonse Areola certainly offers competition in the goalkeeping position. However, the number of outfield options has seemingly decreased from
this time last season. Dawson was at the London Stadium on loan anyway, and even Felipe Anderson was an option for a time. Furthermore, Sébastien Haller and Robert Snodgrass were still around until January.

The club hasn’t really done anything to improve or reinforce, which is exactly what contributed to Burnley’s ill fated run in Europe. Never big spenders, Burnley had to go through Europa League qualifying after they surprisingly finished the 2017/18 season in seventh. They were skinny on numbers, as they always are, and by September of the 2018/19 campaign, Sean Dyche had already used 24 players – a one-player increase on the season prior already. Despite their European exploits ending in the Play-Off Round, Burnley felt the strain, finishing the season 15th in the league and going out in the third and fourth rounds of the EFL Cup and FA Cup, respectively.

The Europa League is tiring, and yet, looking at today's football predictions, West Ham are expected to finish seventh. The squad is of high quality, but to enable this prediction to come to fruition, reinforcements are certainly required.

West Ham’s team needs are glaringly obvious

Prior to the first game of the Premier League, West Ham had decent goalkeeping, centre-back, full-back, and attacking midfield depth. Central midfield could do with another face, as could either wing, but most importantly, the Irons are incredibly shallow up top. Makeshift striker Michail Antonio stands as the team’s main striking option. While his athleticism and aggression have scored him plenty of goals, he doesn’t have much competition there as Jarrod Bowen is better suited to the wing.

Several names have been thrown around in the transfer rumours, but it’d be safe to say that getting Martin Braithwaite would not do anything close to solving the problem. At all his previous clubs, his goals per game ratio has been subpar at best: it doesn’t matter if
Barcelona thought it a good idea to sign the Dane. Instead, a prime target should be the towering Nigerian striker Paul Onuachu. Standing at 6’7’’, the 2020/21 Jupiler Pro League Player of the Year and top goalscorer Onuachu scored a massive 29 goals and two assists in 33 league games last season. While useful, it’s even better that only six of those were down as headers.

At 27-years-old, Onuachu is entering his prime and shouldn’t be too expensive as he plays for KRC Genk. Given West Ham’s preference for crossing and Moyes’ historic love of big-men in the box, he seems like the smart choice. If West Ham wants to reach the same heights as last season, if not exceed them, the squad needs some reinforcements. -LN