When Nuno Espirito Santo introduced Adama Traore for the final half hour of West Ham United’s 1-1 draw with Manchester City on Saturday, the intention was obvious.
Speaking about the January signings lack of starts a few weeks back, Nuno said that Traore’s chance would come. With Jarrod Bowen and Crysencio Summerville ahead of him in the pecking order, opportunities were always likely to be scarce.
Until, that was, Summerville picked up an injury in the FA Cup.
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West Ham United backs pinned firmly against the wall and pleading for a counter-attacking outlet against a dominant Manchester City; this felt like the moment Adama Traore was made for. Or, at the very least, the moment he was bought for.
Instead, the former Wolves, Aston Villa and Barcelona speedster managed just three touches of the ball in around 20 minutes of game time.
Adama Traore struggled during West Ham United’s Man City draw
Adama Traore famously ripped Manchester City apart back in 2019; an iconic brace in a 2-0 Wolves win, and one of the most devastating counter-attacking performances in recent Premier League history. There was never any real chance of history repeating itself here.
Traore certainly appeared up for it, furiously chasing down one clipped ball over the top immediately after coming on. But if anything can be gleaned from his forgettable introduction at the London Stadium, it is that simply throwing Traore into the mix and expecting immediate results is folly.
He replaced Taty Castellanos with a quarter-hour of normal time remaining, and therefore had to lead the line.
Clearly, Nuno wanted someone who could run in behind, press from the front, and hopefully push the City defence back. Traore certainly didn’t lack effort. What he did lack, though, was anything really to get his teeth into. Rather than looking to play intelligent passes into the channels, West Ham usually resorted to just launching the ball upfield in his general direction.
See, for instance, what El Hadji Malick Diouf did immediately after Mateus Fernandes brought down Phil Foden with a ‘superb’ tackle on the edge of the box. Diouf blasted the ball towards the centre circle with his weaker right boot. Rodri simply headed it out of Traore’s reach and, when Bowen picked up possession again, he simply ran into Rayan Cherki.
Traore could be spotted at the top of the picture looking to the sky in exasperation.
Deep into stoppage time, Bowen then decided against trying to send Traore away one-v-one with Gianluigi Donnarumma, perhaps feeling that the most ambitious option was also the riskiest.
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A reminder to Nuno; Traore’s talents are wasted up top
Nuno could do worse than to look back to that Wolves triumph away to Manchester City in October 2019. A victory he masterminded.
Yes, Traore scored twice that day, but twice he was assisted by Raul Jimenez. Now, Taty Castellanos does share some similarities with Jimenez; the maverick Mexican poacher who loves to drop deep and open up spaces for his teammates.
Perhaps the key to making the best use of Traore’s unique skillset, rather than playing him as a makeshift number nine, is playing the winger off a natural centre-forward. West Ham didn’t have one of those when Traore entered the fray on Saturday. Rather than removing Castellanos, Nuno might have seen much better results substituting Bowen instead. Thus, keeping Traore in a more familiar wide role, where he could receive the ball on the counter somewhat more easily.
Of course, taking Bowen off at such a crucial juncture would have been a high-risk, if potentially high-reward strategy. Just like that pass the skipper decided against with 94 minutes on the clock and Traore haring away through the middle.
The intention, introducing his fastest player against a side leaving massive gaps in behind, was the correct one. The execution, though, maybe left something to be desired.
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