West Ham United's season ended with an insipid performance against an Aston Villa team fighting for their Barclays Premier League survival, in a way it was to be expected given the fact that David Moyes' men were completely safe from relegation heading in to the final game. One unique aspect of project restart was the option of using up to five substitutes, a facility the West Ham manager used sparsely, however having so many players available did put the spotlight on the strength of various team's benches, and West Ham's was eye watering!
Yesterday afternoon's game against Villa saw a Hammers bench that included Sebastian Haller, Felipe Anderson, Andrily Yarmolenko, Manuel Lanzini and Jack Wilshere, the first three having been acquired for a total of over £100 Million. The wages for all five including, Jack Wilshere's obscene £100,000 per week, are in excess of £500,000 per week, that's £25 Million per year!
No team, other than those 'elite' clubs bank rolled by dubious countries seeking some form of respectability, can possibly sustain having over £100 Million of 'talent' on the bench whilst paying them over £25 Million per year in wages, pre Covid -19 those figures are excessive, but now the Pandemic has ripped through football's finances such figures are completely unsustainable.
The transfer window has just opened, but hopes are not high of offloading these 'luxury' players at anywhere near their 'true' value, in the current market West Ham would be doing really well to get HALF of what was paid for these mostly Pellegrini indulgences, the high wages they are on will make them particularly difficult to move on.
Trim,cull,whatever you wish to call it, David Moyes will have to sell before he can buy, the problem is his squad is currently completely imbalanced, and given the severe budget restrictions Moyes may have to just initially concentrate on the two key areas of concern, namely the full back situation. Fortunately for the Irons manager, Ben Johnson, having overcome a series of injuries stepped up to the plate at right back and left back, but the elephant(s) in the room are Ryan Fredericks and Aaron Cresswell, he former has regressed as a player to such an extent that some cannot bare watching his error strewn, rabbit in the headlights, shocking football, he wasn't always as bad as he is now, his confidence is obviously way down, but his decision making is really atrocious and getting worse!
Aaron Cresswell is a different kettle of fish to Fredericks,he has been a loyal servant to the club but doesn't have the physicality to put in the type of performances that he once did, back in the day he would be 'head up and burn' forward down the flanks defender, now he plays sideways or backwards, it is a pity but Cresswell definitely need replacing, but not by Authur Masuaku! 'King Authur' as he was once affectionately known by fans, is NOT a full back, he never was despite being played as one, he is a decent left winger but he neglects his defensive duties or makes too many bad choices with his final ball.
Losing Jeremy Ngakia was a real blow, it means having to dip in to the transfer market to find a right back, good ones are hard to find though. Much of Moyes' recruitment will have to be from the lower leagues and from Club's in trouble, Wigan in particular, if they fail in their appeal against a 12 point deduction they wiil have to sell their best assets at knock down prices, and West Ham will be waiting there to do to the Latics what has been done to the Irons on numerous occasions in the past, especially by that creep Levy!
There is hardly any likelyhood of Haller, Anderson, Lanzini, Wilshere and Yarmolenko all being at the club when the new season starts on September the 12th, the most likely departures will probably be Anderson and Haller, both players have already attracted interest from European clubs Lazio and Monaco, as for the others, there aren't many clubs that can match the 'generous' wages West Ham have dished out in the past, why would they want to move on for less money? - Ed
Comments
I agree Dicksy. It doesn't
I agree Dicksy. It doesn't matter that you paid fifty million for Haller if the market says he's only worth five then that's all he is worth. Sell the deadwood at any price to lower the wage bill. And if our players have gone down in value so will replacements. Just don't give away the Crown Jewels at knockdown prices.
Buy good quality youngsters and let's see a five year plan take shape. God knows I've waited nearly sixty years I don't need instant success, just steady progress.
Regardless of what their
Regardless of what their worth,if they were any good,fit,and would of been able to help the cause they would of started,but that wasnt the case,Anderson and Haller have got to go,get what we can,and wish them well,the pair of them have sulking looks about them,in my opinion they dont want to be at the club,weve had enough of those sorts.
At least Anderson performed
At least Anderson performed during the previous season. He was one of our top goal scorers, but not a single goal to his name this season. Cannot understand why his performance has tanked. Lanzini had some glimpses of his past in this last game against Villa. Do not see him staying at the club, just like Wilshere who really offered nothing but was injury ridden. At least Haller scored a few goals, but his very static performance just makes him an easy target to pick on. West Ham needs 10 very mobile players on the pitch that can do the 100 metres in under 15 seconds. Haller does not fit in that category. BTW Rice comes second overall behind James Ward-Prowse with his coverage of 317.2 Km this season. West Ham needs to keep hold of him, and on twitter he said something positive of offering the Fans more this oncoming season.
The thing I find amusing with Haller
He was playing with Jovic at his last club and they had a terrific partnership that had clubs vying for them. Jovic moves to Real Madrid and is a complete failure and Haller comes to us and not much better. They both went from being in to a great partnership to being one up front, bloody obvious that it doesn’t work for them so why couldn’t either manager see it. We won’t get the money for him so why not keep him and see what happens next season with a few decent young players like Diangana and Bowen .
Nail on the head there dicksy
Why doesnt he give his all? When he first came he scored goals,did some terrific link up play.was it because he had the hump that we slid down the table?(welcome to westham my son!) Either pull your socks up or ship him out
Agreed, Haller needs support
Agreed, Haller needs support while playing, his value has plummeted to such an extent that the club would be lucky to get half what is being paid for him, best thing is to keep him and see what happens, if things don't work out sell him.