Javier Hernandez, Mexico’s all-time leading goal scorer who has enjoyed scoring goals in some of the highest leagues in the world. He has already picked up two goals in claret and blue. However, some issues have occurred… he has started to play out of position due to a certain 6’4 striker named Andy Carroll.
Fans were originally drooling over the idea of having the two play up top together, with Carroll’s knock downs landing to the small agile Mexican, however this hasn’t been the case with West Ham manager Slaven Bilic playing his recent three back formation it has meant that some players have been forced out of position and Hernandez is the biggest loss.
With Arnautovic only just finishing his suspension Hernandez was being deployed as a left winger to help fill the space that was missing with Carroll filling in the striker position. Bilic has openly come out and described “It is hard to have them both in their natural positions and have 3 at the back and Antonio & Arnautovic.” Yes, I agree with Bilic it would be hard but it isn’t impossible, he is the manager and he should want to experiment with his team especially seeing he should want his best players in their correct positions.
I personally would change up the formation completely and change from the 3-4-3 that he has recently been playing to a 3-5-2 it then gives him the chance to play both Carroll and Hernandez up top, Arnautovic can then play in the centre in the attacking midfield role while Lanzini is out injured with Cresswell as the left midfielder, Antonio as the right midfielder and Obiang and Kouyate or Noble as the two centre midfielders. The centre backs would be Ogbonna while Collins out injured, Reid and Fonte or Zabaleta with Hart in goal.
However, I would like to see the basic 4-4-2 formation played with Carroll and Hernandez up front so that they can try and become a strong partnership with the “tall and short” combination. Arnautovic on the left midfield so that he can cut in and shoot or big a deadly cross in the box to the strikers as well as his great link up play with Cresswell would open some defences. Antonio would play on the right midfield so he can burst forward and into the box to cross the ball on his left or right foot, he also has strong link up play with Zabaleta who would look to burst forward.
The centre midfield would be held down by Pedro Obiang who likes to stay back and sit in front of the back 4 and try open play by switching wings between Arnautovic and Antonio. The other centre midfield would be Lanzini when he is fully fit so that he can push forward and help the team attack by producing different styles of play and linking up the whole midfield as a unit. However, until he is fully fit I would utilize Kouyate’s strength in the midfield, he likes to push forward when he has the ball at his feet, it would also add another defensive minded player to the highly attacking midfield mind-set.
The defence would consist of Cresswell only just marginally over Masuaku due to his great link up play with Arnautovic. Winston Reid would be the captain of the team due to him already being vice-captain and Noble not being included in the Starting XI, Reid in my opinion is West Ham’s best centre back and shows this on a weekly basis especially this past week against West Brom where he stopped two great chances from going in within 5 seconds. Ogbonna would partner Reid at the back because he has the strength and the pace to be able to keep up to most players and he has great chemistry with Reid. Right back would be Zabaleta due to the fact he is an experienced right back and even though he is quite slow he knows how to deal with quicker players. Finally, Joe Hart would play in goal over Adrian because he is more vocal with the defence.
I hope that Bilic will soon see that Hernandez needs to be playing upfront with Carroll because it won’t be long before he loses his patience and starts to complain.