West Ham boss David Moyes addressed the media last night, and suggested that Manuel Lanzini is arguably the Hammers’ most important player, in spite of the Argentine’s poor recent form, as quoted by Football.London.
The 26-year-old joined the east London outfit on a season-long loan in the summer of 2015, before making his move a permanent one the following year.
He immediately endeared himself to the West Ham fans, and quickly established himself as one of the club’s most important players.
Lanzini has been absolutely atrocious this season, however. And he looks like a mere shadow of the player he once was.
The midfield play-maker has played 18 Premier League games for the Hammers this season. In those outings, he has racked up just two assists and no goals. The 26-year-old has attempted only five through balls and has created just two ‘big chances’ (premierleague.com).
It is actually incredible that Moyes has been persisting with Lanzini recently, rather than playing Pablo Fornals, who has arguably been West Ham’s best player over the past couple of months.
The 56-year-old Scot spoke to reporters after last night’s game, and insisted that he has full faith in the diminutive South American, as quoted by Football.London:
“My thought is he is arguably one of our best players, if not our best player. When I was here before I needed him as much as I needed Marko Arnautovic. He was such a good player for us and I am desperate to get him back to the levels he was at. I trust him, I believe he can get back to those levels. At the moment he is our flair, he is our person that might makes the difference. There is nobody more behind him than me.”
Moyes is obviously trying to back a player who is quite clearly struggling with form and confidence. But a cynical viewpoint would be that the Scot is hoping and praying that Lanzini comes good again, just so that everyone will say what a masterstroke is was from the manager to stick with him.
At the moment, it is backfiring badly. And Moyes must consider bringing Pablo Fornals back into the team in place of the Argentine for the Brighton game.
Judging by his comments last night, however, that is highly unlikely to happen.
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