West Ham United fans are clearly done with generic Twitter quotes and are calling for more from the players on the pitch.
After another performance left claret and blues fans demanding more, English defensive-midfielder Declan Rice was quoted by the official West Ham Twitter page saying: “We’re creating enough, but we’re not scoring enough. In the Premier League you need to kill teams off and we haven’t been doing that of late. We’ve got it in us, we’ve got the squad and we’ve got the quality.”
Many fans were confused at what exactly they have been creating? But the stats actually appear to back up what the 20-year-old midfielder is saying. Let’s take the last game for example, as the Hammers created 11 key passes and managed 12 shots which compared to Sheffield United’s nine key passes and 10 shots, doesn’t look all that bad [WhoScored].
“We’re creating enough, but we’re not scoring enough. In the Premier League you need to kill teams off and we haven’t been doing that of late. We’ve got it in us, we’ve got the squad and we’ve got the quality.”
— West Ham United (@WestHam) October 27, 2019
Copy n paste
— Samzini (@Samcam06) October 27, 2019
I’m not sure West Ham are anywhere near creating enough.
— Tom Rennie (@thomasjrennie) October 27, 2019
Fans are getting tired of the same old “insert excuse here”. I thought we’d be doing much better than this.
— Lee Jolly (@leethept1) October 27, 2019
That’s good but actually do it?
— Jack (@jackarmitxge) October 27, 2019
What are we exactly creating
— Jurac (@54fc875286444f7) October 27, 2019
West Ham completed 545 passes against Sheffield United, with Manuel Lanzini completing the most for the Hammers, the Argentine completed 91 passes despite only joining the game in the 66th minute [WhoScored].
Words.
— Paul Reeve (@ECApaulreeve) October 27, 2019
Yeah yeah yeah… how many times have i read this sort of stuff in recent years
— niall mcdonald (@niall_mcdonald) October 27, 2019
If they think we are creating enough then there lies the issue.
— Bradders (@bradleyjames22) October 27, 2019
What Do We Think?
Sorry Hammers fans, but West Ham are creating chances as stated by the stats above.
Let’s look at the last match to see what’s really going wrong:
The real issue is who’s getting the chances, Sebastien Haller had only 29 touches all game, meaning he’s not seeing enough of the ball. Felipe Anderson on the other hand, has nearly double that amount with 57, and there lies the issue [WhoScored].
The French striker didn’t manage to register a shot with the 29 touches he had, however, Anderson had two shots, which is still a small amount but that’s two more shots than the main goal threat. The Brazilian winger also often hands over possession to the opposition, with the winger being dispossessed twice during the match [Whoscored].
Albian Ajeti came on too late in the game to truly assess whether playing him next to Haller could be a viable option, but surely there’s no harm in trying a traditional 4-4-2, even if just for one half to see if that helps the tall Frenchman get the chances he needs.