One West Ham United player put in a particularly poor performance against Everton in the Premier League this afternoon.
The Premier League clash between Everton and West Ham at Goodison Park today was a vitally important one for both sides.
David Moyes earned himself some much needed respite from the heavy pressure he was under with a 4-2 win over Brentford Monday night.
However, he reverted to type for this afternoon’s clash with the Toffees, and had his team sit back with the intent of hitting the hosts on the counter.
We really should be going to teams like Everton and winning, but we were far too passive for my liking once again, and one player in particular epitomised our pedestrian approach to the game…
West Ham player papered over the cracks vs Everton
James Ward-Prowse just isn’t doing enough during games as far as I’m concerned. Sure, he has 11 assists and five goals to his name this season, including the one he provided for Kurt Zouma today (Transfermarkt).
However, most of his assists this season have come from corners and you can’t tell me that if someone like Jarrod Bowen had been taking the set pieces we wouldn’t have scored roughly the same amount of goals from them.
I’m not saying he’s a bad player, because he almost certainly is not. It’s just that when he isn’t chipping in with assists, he is incredibly ineffective. Today was a prime example as far as I’m concerned. The 29-year-old bagged an assist from a corner but just didn’t do enough aside from that one delivery.
Ward-Prowse was brought off and replaced by Kalvin Phillips just five minutes after we equalised today.
The role that he plays for us could be performed by someone like Flynn Downes in my opinion, and he needs to really up his game now.
He is a superb passer but always seems to play it backwards or sideways. He has only averaged 4.37 progressive passes per 90 minutes for the Hammers this season (FBREF), and that quite simply isn’t good enough.
Ward-Prowse really needs to raise his game now, and in my opinion, David Moyes should drop him after his performance for West Ham against Everton this afternoon. I know that sounds harsh but we surely didn’t just buy him to whip in good deliveries did we?
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