David Moyes must abandon the Pablo Fornals ‘let winger’ experiment, if West Ham United are to reach the next level.
Fornals joined the Hammers from Spanish side Villarreal in the summer of 2019 for around £25 million (The Telegraph).
The 26-year-old is a real fan favourite at the London Stadium due to his passion, commitment and love for the football club.
Fornals is also completely selfless, and is happy to play in any position he is asked to.
David Moyes made eight new signings in the summer, so the competition for places has gone up a notch this season. And Fornals recently highlighted how that’s a really good thing for West Ham.
The Spanish ace is clearly one of Moyes’s favourites, and has featured regularly in both the Premier League and the Europa Conference League this season.
In order for the Hammers to make some real progress though, we think Moyes needs to make a change regarding Fornals…
David Moyes must abandon Pablo Fornals experiment
I truly believe that Fornals is totally wasted out on the left wing.
The 26-year-old is technically brilliant and he has exceptional vision that enables him to make some real killer passes.
One thing that he doesn’t have is pace, however. And in my opinion, that makes him totally redundant out on the left wing.
I have to caveat all of that by saying that Fornals’ defensive responsibility is obviously something that Moyes likes down the left hand side. And when Aaron Cresswell plays, this is even more important.
The Scot has repeatedly been saying since the summer that he wants his West Ham team to evolve into more of a possession based one, however.
And if there is any substance to those comments, he really shouldn’t be playing Tomas Soucek in the middle of the park.
So why not move Fornals into the middle of the park with Declan Rice and Lucas Paqueta and play Said Benrahma, Maxwel Cornet or Michail Antonio on the left wing?
I would absolutely love to see the Spaniard deployed centrally. It’s where he is most comfortable playing, and he operated there all the time for Villarreal.
It just feels to me like Fornals is wasted when he plays out wide on the left, and the fluency of West Ham’s play in transition certainly suffers as a result.
Pablo Fornals will play anywhere David Moyes asks him without complaining. We know that.
I just feel as though West Ham could reach a whole new level by playing a 4-3-3, with the Spaniard in central midfield with Rice and Paqueta and a front three consisting of Benrahma, Cornet or Antonio alongside Gianluca Scamacca and Jarrod Bowen.
The simple fact of the matter is that David Moyes must abandon the Pablo Fornals as a left winger experiment, if West Ham are to make a leap forward this season and beyond.
The Scot just seems to be too set in his ways to try that though. And that’s a real shame as far as I’m concerned.
Read also:
‘Special’ player was so close to leaving West Ham in the summer transfer window
‘Really good’: Fornals names the West Ham new signing who’s impressed him already
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