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West Ham Fan View: Three things that we learnt from draw at West Brom
West Brom 0-0 West Ham United. In what was a poor performance from both sides, the Hammers managed to come away with a point. Here are three things that we learnt from the game…
Javier Hernandez struggles again
It was clear that something had to change following our first few games. We conceded too many goals and Slaven Bilic decided to switch from a 4-2-3-1 to a 3-4-3. The switch did help on Monday night against Huddersfield having picked up our first win with no goals conceded. But this system harms one of our best players – Javier Hernandez.
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He is forced to play on the left of the front three and he has struggled in this formation. He has little impact on the game and we know that he is not a winger. Hernandez is not the type of player to beat his man and create numerous chances. With Hernandez stuck on the wing, we cannot utilise his poaching ability. He was subbed off in the 64th minute against Huddersfield and in the 76th minute today. Can Bilic find a system that suits both Andy Carroll and Hernandez for our next game?
Bilic’s use of his players continues to confuse
We have seen it throughout Bilic’s time at West Ham United. He has used players in their unnatural positions which has confused fans and today’s game was no different. With James Collins going off injured, we saw the return of Marko Arnautovic though rather than switching to a back-four, we saw Pablo Zabaleta move to CB with Michail Antonio moving to RWB.
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Antonio showed once again today that he is one of our most important with another good performance. Bilic’s decision to move him further back was baffling given the nature of the game and we cannot see this happen again next week against Tottenham.
Momentum going into next week’s London derby
We have always improved our performances when facing Tottenham at home in recent seasons and today’s game gives us momentum going into next week. Yes, it was not a win but let’s not forget that we were solid defensively with another clean sheet. Jose Fonte, Winston Reid, and James Collins did not put a foot wrong today with West Brom’s first shot on target coming in the 88th minute.
The 3-4-3 formation has improved us defensively and with four points from our last two games, the team morale is much higher than it was and this was needed going into next week. The lack of creativity in the team will be helped with Manuel Lanzini’s return though could we see Hernandez get dropped?
