OPINION
West Ham fell to a disappointing 1-0 loss to bitter rivals Tottenham Hotspur at the London Stadium on Saturday afternoon, and manager Manuel Pellegrini will have a lot to think about after a mixed display.
The Hammers looked strong going forward, particularly through star man Marko Arnautovic, while Javier Hernandez put in a promising cameo from the bench.
At the back they also looked solid, with Issa Diop underlining his status as one of the rising stars among Premier League defenders with a brilliant display alongside Fabian Balbuena.
However, the performance of Aaron Cresswell at left-back was not so impressive, with the £50,000-a-week flyer [Spotrac] replacing Arthur Masuaku in the starting line up to little effect.
There were some positive signs for the three-time England international, with his delivery into the box of high quality for most of the match, but defensive frailties were clear for all to see.
His defending for Spurs’ goal was lax, and his overall performance made one thing very clear indeed: West Ham must buy a new left-back in January.
Both Cresswell and Masuaku seem to have forgotten, or simply never learned, how to defend properly.
As a left-back that is your primary job, with getting forward a secondary objective when possible. Instead, attacking seems to be the one thing on both players’ minds, and that will cost West Ham dear over the course of the season, as it has done already.
West Ham need a left-back of a higher calibre than these two if they are to progress to the next level, and that must now be Pellegrini’s first priority in January.
The Hammers will be destined for mid-table mediocrity if this issue is not addressed soon, and the search for a new left-back must begin in earnest immediately.