West Ham have been looking quietly impressive in pre-season under new manager Manuel Pellegrini, and his abundance of summer signings are, for the most part, looking promising.
The Chilean has brought in seven players during a busy summer so far, as he seeks to put his own stamp on the squad following the underwhelming 2017/18 campaign under Slaven Bilic and David Moyes.
So far, Pellegrini has brought in Lukasz Fabianski, Ryan Fredericks, Issa Diop, Jack Wilshere, Andriy Yarmolenko, Felipe Anderson and Fabian Balbuena, and there have been reports he’s not about to stop there, with the Sun claiming that he is set to sign Lille’s Thiago Maia.
Something for Pellegrini to ponder will be how he sets up his side defensively against Liverpool’s mighty attack next Sunday at Anfield, with Balbuena having really thrown a spanner in the works after a solid pre-season.
There are a number of possibilities available to Pellegrini, with Angelo Ogbonna and Winston Reid having played many games alongside one another last season as part of a back three.
Having shipped so many goals last term playing a back three, that surely is out of the question and one has to imagine Pellegrini will go with a flat back four, especially since his favoured formation at Manchester City was 4-3-3.
It might be an idea for the 64-year-old to deploy Declan Rice as a defensive midfielder, since he can play there, with Ogbonna as the left-sided centre-back in the interest of balance, and Balbuena on the right.
The rugged Paraguayan has settled in well and looked good alongside the Italian against Aston Villa, and perhaps deserves the nod more than the £22 million Issa Diop, who could potentially be exposed by Sadio Mane, Mo Salah and Roberto Firmino. Ogbonna and Balbuena feel like the safer bet at this point.
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