West Ham United left-back Emerson Palmieri hasn’t looked like himself at all over the past six weeks or so.
Heading into the new year, Emerson Palmieri has been one of West Ham United’s players of the season so far, and he was well in with a shout to be be crowned as Hammer of the Year come the end of the campaign.
After a really slow start to life at the London Stadium, the 29-year-old Hammers left-back really turned things around towards the end of last season, and he has established himself as one of our key players now.
David Moyes must now look at Emerson as one of the first names on his team-sheet. However, the Italy international’s form has definitely fallen off a cliff over the past six weeks.
But why? He was so full of beans during the first-half of the season, and now he looks completely lost all of a sudden.
I reckon Emerson has really been missing Lucas Paqueta…
West Ham have a huge Emerson Palmieri problem
Since Paqueta suffered an injury during our clash with Bristol City in the FA Cup in early January, he has been absent from action.
During that six week absence, Emerson’s form has deteriorated badly, and that’s no coincidence.
The former Chelsea man has struck up a wonderful relationship with the Brazilian star down our left hand flank this season.
Since the 26-year-old got injured though, Emerson has been without his mate, and has had to make do with the likes of Said Benrahma, Pablo Fornals and even James Ward-Prowse playing in front of him.
West Ham haven’t got a player who is as comfortable on the ball as Paqueta is, so when he isn’t playing Emerson doesn’t have the option of fizzing it into the left winger’s feet, whoever that may be.
Also, whoever has been filling in for Paqueta is quite simply not on the same wavelength as the former Lyon man, and they don’t share the same understanding with Emerson as the Brazilian does.
This is a really big problem that Moyes now needs to address. Not only are we really suffering without Paqueta, but the form of one of our best players this season has dropped off the edge of a cliff as a result of the South American’s absence.
So in order to address this problem, Moyes needs to either sign a top-class player in the mould of Paqueta in order to provide competition and cover for the Brazilian, or he needs to sign a young, energetic and attacking left-back who can perform to a high level, with or without the silky former Lyon star.
It’s a big issue we have at West Ham right now with the form of Emerson Palmieri. Hopefully Lucas Paqueta is back and available for selection soon but in the long-term, something has to be done regarding Emerson’s reliance on the 26-year-old.
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