West Ham United captain Mark Noble has publicly questioned the tactics of manager Manuel Pellegrini and feels the team should not be afraid to occasionally play like Burnley.
The Hammers got the season off to a dreadful start with a 5-0 drubbing from Manchester City on Saturday.
The fact it was all-conquering, mega-rich City was undoubtedly a mitigating factor.
But plenty of West Ham fans were unhappy with what they saw, particularly in the second half.
Pellegrini’s tactics in the spotlight
Pellegrini’s tactics and summer transfer priorities have been called into question since.
One particular phase of play attracted a lot of attention from fans on social media this week.
West Ham had no less than six players in close proximity to one another out on the left-wing leaving acres of space for City to score one of the easiest goals of the season.
Fans’ favourite Robert Snodgrass highlighted some worrying tactical naivety in an interview with the club’s official website.
And now Hammers captain Noble, currently out with a calf injury, has further questioned Pellegrini’s tactics in his column with The Evening Standard.
‘West Ham must be more Burnley when we have to’
“We don’t start second halves well enough, though — and that’s something which even plagued us at times last season. Maybe it’s a mentality thing,” Noble told The Evening Standard.
“They (City) do the other side of the game very well, too, and that’s perhaps an area where we can learn from the defeat.
“At home, especially, we are a very good footballing team, but against a team like City, we perhaps need to be a bit more ‘ugly’, for want of a better word. We have to try and make them do things they don’t enjoy, such as balls in behind.
“When Burnley play City, for example, they will have two big guys up front and they will launch plenty of balls to them. I’m not saying we should, or want to play that way, but we have to make them less comfortable. You can’t try and play them at their own game, because they’re better at it than everyone else as well.
“You need to make tackles as well because the thing about the best teams is that they want everything their own way…
‘I’ll make it clear to teammates’
“As a captain, it’s part of my job to give the players some idea what to expect. I’ll make it clear to them that, if they think they can go there tomorrow, put their foot on the ball and have a look around, they’re in for a shock.
“You need fight, passion – you need to do the ugly things first and then the good things will come. The best teams do that – City, Liverpool, Tottenham.”
West Ham legend Trevor Sinclair was at the London Stadium for the City game. And he too questioned the tactics after the game.
Sinclair told whufc.com Pellegrini must find a balance between attack and defence if the Hammers are to be a success this season.
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