Gary Lineker and Micah Richards have shared a “massive concern” they have noticed at West Ham United this season while on The Rest is Football podcast.
The Hammers currently sit in ninth place in the Premier League after a mixed start to the season, while they’re also on course to progress from the Europa League group stages.
But after just one clean sheet in the Premier League this season both Lineker and Richards mentioned it as a conern for David Moyes, before predicting that the team would finish in mid-table this season.
“I said mid-table, Alan said the same. All three of us said mid-table in fact and currently they are ninth which is very close to mid-table,” Lineker said.
“I think they’ve had some good games and some not so good games. Jarrod Bowen has been excellent I think, he’s got eight goals and assists this season. Ward-Prowse has been an excellent signing. They’ve only had one clean sheet this season though which would be a concern wouldn’t it?”
Micah Richards then piped up and agreed, although he had praise for Mohammed Kudus too.
“A massive concern considering I’ve got the goalkeeper in my fantasy team,” he said before bursting into one of his trademark laughing fits.
“I thought he’d have loads of clean sheets, a typical David Moyes team but it’s not happened.
“Another one to throw in there is Kudus. In the last couple of games he’s looked really good.”
Concern
Last season West Ham had a problem when it came to defending and Lukasz Fabianski was seen by many as a goalkeeper that was past his best, especially considering the way that Alphonse Areola performed in Europe as we won the Conference League.
This season they have swapped roles and it’s still clear that Areola is the better option of the two.
Obviously getting just one clean sheet isn’t ideal for a team like West Ham, as that should be the basis to most of our successes, but they’re also not his fault.
The French man has made a host of top saves this season to keep us in games and none of the goals have really been his fault, and sometimes there’s just nothing that a goalkeeper can do about an opposition goal.
Hammers fans are confident with Areola between the sticks and if keep performing the way we have been this season, then moving up the table is only a matter of time.
