The Athletic’s Roshane Thomas has recently aired a ‘frustration’ he has with West Ham United’s French striker Sebastien Haller.
West Ham’s 26-year-old forward has been situated at the London Stadium since the summer of 2019, with the Irons having forked out £45m to seal his arrival from Eintracht Frankfurt (per Transfermarkt).
During his time with the Hammers so far, he has made 42 appearances for the east London club in which he has scored 12 goals and provided three assists.
This total is far less prolific than the 33 goals and 19 assists which Haller bagged in 77 appearances for Frankfurt.
So, in the latest episode of The Athletic’s U Irons podcast, Thomas discussed his thoughts on the Frenchman and aired his main “frustration” with him when discussing his work rate.
He said: “It’s a part of the game that frustrates a lot of fans, really, because all you ask is just put in the extra effort; run, chase after lost causes like what [Michail] Antonio would do – just do the basics, really.
“I’m still not going to write off Haller because he’s the top goalscorer with five goals. Obviously, he scored in the Carabao Cup against League One teams.
“I’m still not going to write him off because I feel like he could still do a job, but come on, he has to put in a shift.
“My frustration with Haller is, when the opposition defenders come off the pitch, did you really give them a tough battle? Did they really find it hard marking you?
“I remember last season against Newcastle, the 3-2 defeat, I asked Ciaran Clark: ‘What was it like defending against Haller?’ and he said, ‘It was alright, really.'”
TIF Thoughts on Roshane Thomas’ criticism of Sebastien Haller…
As can be seen in what Thomas had to say about Haller, he believes that the player’s work rate and him not doing the basics right is the main frustration about Haller.
Have you written off Sebastien Haller yet?
No, he's not that bad
Yes, he's not good enough
So far this season, the French attacker has been West Ham’s fifth-worst performer in the Premier League, with a weak 6.3/10 average rating across five substitute appearances (per WhoScored).
West Ham fans can therefore only hope that the £27m-rated striker can begin showing that he was worth the fee that the Hammers paid to sign him.