Hammers boss David Moyes has called on fan favourite Pablo Fornals to get back to his best for West Ham for the season run in.
Had you asked any West Ham fan to name the club’s best performers earlier this season, Fornals would have been right in the mix.
West Ham’s beloved Spanish Cockney – or Cockney Carzola as he is also known to many – was in supreme form as the Hammers put together a long unbeaten run leading into that momentum killing November international break.
Indeed Fornals has been so good for West Ham he has started to establish himself in Luis Enrique’s Spain squad.
But his form – much like the team’s – has blown hot and cold in the ensuing months and Fornals has found himself in and out of Moyes’s starting XI.
It coincided with Fornals welcoming his first child into the world but many West Ham fans were alarmed by the midfielder’s loss of form.
Last month Fornals explained the reasons behind his sudden drop off at West Ham in an interview with The Telegraph.
“I’m a guy who loves his wife and I just wanted to make it easier for her as well (by changing my sleeping pattern),” Fornals told The Telegraph when discussing his dip.
“This thing (having a baby) has changed me as a person, as a player, in everything. You have another thing to fight for.
“So I’m trying to be as good as I can in all aspects of my life. It’s a big change. It’s not been easy. I’ve been playing less but that’s because I had to adapt into this new thing in our lives.
“Now I’m feeling really well, feeling like before – or better than before because I have another thing to fight for. I’m really happy to recover my best shape.”
Fornals also had Covid for a period too.
Since then West Ham fans have seen flashes of Fornals at his best, such as the brilliant defence splitting pass for Declan Rice which rescued West Ham from the mire in the FA Cup at Kidderminster.
But the 2-2 draw at Leicester on Sunday was somewhat typical of the Spaniard’s – and the team’s – bitty form in recent times. He was substituted late on with West Ham chasing the game.
David Moyes calls on fan favourite Pablo Fornals to get back to his best for West Ham
Moyes knows Fornals is a big player for his side.
The Scot insists he has seen signs of improvement from Fornals. And he is urging the midfielder to push hard to get back to his best and contribute more goals and assists with so much to play for in the run in.
“I’ve got to say I think Pablo is starting to show signs of improving slightly,” Moyes told reporters a the weekend (whufc.com).
“He made the goal at Kidderminster with a pass for Declan Rice, I thought the other night (against Watford) he was more influential in bits of the game, especially later on.
“I think Pablo has had a bit of a dip from when he came back in November from the international break.
“I just hope that he is just starting to show small signs of improvements, but in terms of goals yes (we need more), it is a big thing and we need all of our attacking players to chip in and it would help if Pablo could come up with a few goals for us.”
Let’s hope that’s the case when West Ham take on Newcastle this weekend.