Pablo Zabaleta is convinced that Felipe Anderson has the quality to spearhead a West Ham revival after the international break.
The Argentine right-back believes manager Manuel Pellegrini should build the attack around the Brazilian, who joined from Lazio this summer for a club-record fee of £41million, in the absence of Manuel Lanzini.
West Ham are rock bottom of the Premier League table after losing their first four matches of the campaign.
Zabaleta told the Sun: “Losing Manuel was a big blow for us. For the manager’s style of play it was a big blow but we have to cope and we will see what happens. But Felipe has quality — he showed that in Italy.
“He played like a No10 behind the strikers when we faced Arsenal and that position seems to suit him a lot better.
“Playing on the left or right in this league you need to run up and down in attack and defence and it’s completely different to Italian football, where there’s not the same pace and intensity.
“Here you need to be quick to go forward and be able to track back. It’s tough but hopefully he will settle into the right position.”
OPINION
Anderson can play in all three positions behind the main centre-forward, and even in the spearhead role, and the early evidence is, as Zabaleta, that he is best suited to slotting in just off the spearhead. The Brazilian is quick and can work the channel, but he struggled to track back in the opener against Liverpool, who tore the Hammers apart with their devastating attacking play. Jack Wilshere was used in the number 10 role that day, but he has never been a goalscorer, or much of an assist-maker, either. West Ham need a playmaker who can chip in with 10 to 15 goals a season, and take some off the burden off Marko Arnautovic. The signs are that Anderson can be that man. He was impressive in the defeat at Arsenal, probably West Ham’s best performance this season, and looked more effective there than in the wide left role he was used in early on.