Unpicking West Ham’s Tactical Knot: Is It The Players Or The Plan?

It is always tempting at the end of a disappointing game of football to channel one’s dissatisfaction towards the performances of individual players. It fuels the fascination for player ratings and the juvenile clickbait reports as to which of this week’s starting eleven had ‘stunk the place out!’

Of course, there are games where individual performances have stood above the rest as match winning or where individuals have let the side down through ill-discipline or poor execution. But generally, the success or otherwise of a team relies on the collective efforts. And at the elite level – especially with the modern trend of obsessive micro coaching – that depends on everyone being aware of their roles and responsibilities and capable of carrying them out within a team dynamic.

The job of the coach is to know the strengths and weaknesses of each of his players – accepting they haven’t all necessarily been hand-picked to meet his specific needs – and deploy them in a manner that maximises their effectiveness as a group. The sum must become greater than the value of the parts if success is to be forthcoming. It can be no use having a theoretical style of play if the players do not collectively understand it or do not have the individual attributes to pull it off.

As things stand, it is apparent that Julen Lopetegui’s West Ham team are a long way short of team comfortable with the style of football they are meant to be serving up. It remains a group of individuals rather than a team. If we are to believe it is a ‘work I progress’, then shouldn’t we be seeing an obvious shape starting to emerge by now? On the evidence so far tactics and formations look all over the place.

It is a possibly unfair comparison, but it brought to mind the star studied squad which managed to get relegated under Glenn Roeder in 2002/3. If you can remember that far back, this was a side that featured the talents of Di Canio, Sinclair, Kanoute, Cole, Carrick and Defoe but which misfired chaotically for most of the season until Sir Trevor instilled a degree of organisation in the final knockings.

It is far too early to speculate that an equivalent outcome might arise, but it does highlight the importance of structure and organisation in making the most of individual excellence.

At the weekend, several pundits had suggested that Lopetegui didn’t yet know his best eleven. That may be true, but the bigger issue is the failure to create an identity and style of play that can be executed on the pitch by the resources available. Can we know the who before we know the what and the how? This was the part of the tactical transition where many understood the need for time and adjustment where a balance was struck between the coach’s dream and the player’s capabilities. Compromises were always going to be needed – but right now progress is looking slow and painful.

Let’s take the tactic of playing out from the back as an example. We have a goalkeeper who was never recruited for his ability with the ball at his feet. The centre back pairing has yet to be settled, the full backs have very different attributes, and the defensive midfield options are lacking in pace, and touch. The upshot is that collectively they find it difficult to break the press resulting in one of two things happening. Either they ultimately play it back to the keeper under pressure who resorts to the time-honoured punt up field, or the ball is switched repeatedly from side to side, losing momentum and the opportunity for rapid counter attacks.

While better movement and positioning can perhaps improve with practice, no amount of coaching can instil pace where it does not already exist. If the plan and the people don’t coincide then one or other must change. Unless a solution is found for moving the ball forward quickly and accurately then creating quality chances in the final third will remain challenging.

The implications of the ponderous build-up are obvious further forward. Creative midfielders get dragged deep into their own half where they can cause no damage, and attacking players, whose strength is running into space, are faced with one or more opponents in their path. Frustration takes hold and they end up down blind alleys or taking hopeful pot shots from distance. That West Ham are top seven for number of shots but bottom six for Expected Goals illustrates the quality of the chances being created.

To conclude that, say, Mohammed Kudus is sulking, or Lucas Paqueta is disinterested in this context is based on flimsy evidence – although it makes for a good headline. It is staggering how many pundits and commentators speak fluent body language these days. The player’s role in most teams is tightly defined with little independent scope to try something different when they are having little success carrying out the coach’s instructions. It must surely lead to tensions and my immediate reaction to Kudus being replaced at half-time was that there had been a dressing room bust up Later reports have supported this version of events although we cannot know if they are true. Are there any supporters who believe that Kudus is being played in the position where we will see the best from him? The interesting thing was that he was replaced by Carlos Soler rather than ‘Jimmy’ Summerville who would have been the natural replacement – and who had been very unfortunate to have been benched in the first place.

Whether it was because of or in spite of the substitutions, the Hammer’s second half showing against Brentford was much improved. Having scored their customary first minute goal – at least we held out longer than Manchester City and Tottenham thanks to the advantage of taking the kick-off – the home side appeared reluctant to press home their early advantage. They would not pick up the pace again until after the West Ham equaliser. In all it was a scrappy, low-quality affair in which the Bees might point to a lengthy injury list in mitigation.

The West Ham highlight of the afternoon was the performance of Aaron Wan-Bissaka who excelled back in a conventional full back role. And proved he is both our best right and left back. Can he be cloned? It was another unexpected choice to introduced Dinos Mavropanos instead of Vladimir Coufal but it was a move that gave the defence a more solid feel.

It was another enigmatic showing from Tomas Soucek. No-one can dislike the big Czech for his attitude and commitment, but he is as much a part of the defensive midfield problem as he is of its solution. However, he has managed to pick up a re-brand during the early season struggles as the old dependable – and while he is popping up with a share of the goals, who can argue with that?

The final game before the international break will see the Hammers hoping to break their London Stadium wipe out against new promoted Ipswich Town. The spirit and determination of the visitors cannot be underestimated and will need to be matched if the first home points are to be put on the board. COYI!