West Ham United take on Burnley today and one look at the two squads should have Hammers owners David Sullivan and David Gold ashamed.
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Burnley have been something of a bogey side for West Ham in recent seasons.
The Hammers have lost their last three games against Burnley and four of the last five.
Burnley the litmus test for West Ham progression
Burnley are famed for being solid, hard-working and physical under Sean Dyche.
Indeed the Clarets are very much a litmus test of where Moyes’s side are at after West Ham’s best start to a season for 22 years.
On paper this should be a comfortable West Ham win. But games against Burnley are never comfortable.
Saturday’s opponents defy the odds just being in the Premier League.
A one-club town with a population of just 89,000 – more than a quarter of whom are needed to fill the club’s stadium when fans are allowed at games.
It is an astonishing story really.
Most Prem clubs operate with four strikers and even a small club like Burnley are no different
In terms of quality there is no comparison between West Ham’s squad and that of Burnley.
Dyche would take the Hammers squad over his own in a heartbeat.
But West Ham’s owners should hang their heads in shame when it comes to a comparison between the striker options currently available to Moyes and the depth Dyche has at Turf Moor.
West Ham went into last season with just one recognised striker in the shape of Sebastien Haller.
The forward failed to adapt to the English game or live up to his big price tag. And by the end of a troubled season Moyes had to convert winger Michail Antonio into a striker.
West Ham got lucky, it worked. And in the end it kept the club in the Premier League.
Now Haller has gone and West Ham are left with injury-prone converted forward Antonio – who is still not fully fit – as their only senior striker.
It is frankly unfathomable that a Premier League side can take such a huge risk with arguably the most important position on the pitch.
Most Premier League clubs operate with four senior strikers in their squad.
And that is no different for lowly Burnley.
Dyche has Jay Rodriguez, Chris Wood, Ashley Barnes and Matej Vydra to choose from.
On one hand it could be argued a fit and firing Antonio brings more to the West Ham side than all four of those players combined.
And no doubt Dyche would love to have the Hammers hitman in his squad.
West Ham owners should hang their heads in shame over club’s unfathomable lack of striker options
But Moyes has been left inexcusably short in the most important area of his squad.
Imagine for a moment that Antonio was to pick up another injury. All West Ham’s brilliant work this season could be undone and a promising campaign would just fizzle out.
West Ham have been linked with a host of strikers since selling Haller.
But Moyes has admitted the club’s recruitment is so primitive that West Ham simply do not have any replacements lined up (Evening Standard).
There has even been talk West Ham will wait until the summer to sign a new forward. That’s despite there being over half of a really promising season to go.
The Scot is focused on completely revamping West Ham’s recruitment, which he says is behind that of every other Premier League club (Evening Standard).
One look at the West Ham and Burnley striker options is all the evidence he needs.
Sullivan and Gold do themselves no favours with the club’s fans in these scenarios.
A well run Premier League club would not leave themselves with just one forward. And any well run club would certainly have targets lined up if they did.
Lawro backs West Ham to go one better than Man United against bogey side Burnley
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