Graham Potter decision slammed after West Ham v Crystal Palace moment. Graham Potter selecting both Edson Alvarez and Guido Rodriguez in West Ham United’s midfield against Crystal Palace left Rob Green in disbelief.
Speaking on beIN SPORTS xtra 2 (18 January, 3:33pm), Green was wondering “what the point” of picking both defensive-minded midfielders in the starting line-up was in the Irons’ 2-0 defeat.
After playmaker Carlos Soler was benched for Saturday’s match at the London Stadium, Green slammed Alvarez and Rodriguez’s lack of forward movement as the Hammers offered next to nothing in attack.
He said: “See Edson Alvarez and [Guido] Rodriguez again in that midfield, both standing still, both doing pretty much exactly the same jobs.
“You’re just wondering what’s the point in having them both on the pitch in an attacking sense?”
Graham Potter working off scraps at West Ham United
While Potter’s first league match in charge of the Irons ended in a 3-2 victory, his side were second-best for large swathes of the contest and were being peppered with shots at times.
As a result, and coming up against a resurgent Palace side who have overtaken them in the table after Saturday’s victory, Potter employing a safety-first approach isn’t exactly surprising.
However, if the 49-year-old had the likes of Crysencio Summerville, Michail Antonio or Niclas Fullkrug at his disposal, you’d expect that Potter would have fielded a much more attack-minded line-up.
Fullkrug and Antonio’s long-term injuries, and Danny Ings also being an out-of-form striker on the wrong side of 30, leaves Potter with very few options up front and a complete lack of attacking depth.
Dropping Soler certainly came back to bite Potter against Palace, but given the aging, poorly-assembled squad he’s inherited in East London, there isn’t much else the new Irons boss can do at the moment.
In other West Ham news, one Premier League player is keen to leave his current club with a move to East London on the cards.
