By Matthew
18 February, 2021 • 3:05 GMT
As at the time of writing, West Ham have played 24 premier league games this season and have racked up 42 points which sees their Points Per Game(PPG) stand at 1.75. Last season after 24 games, the hammers only had 23 points. How quickly has things turned around for them? Well, very quickly, I would say. Currently, they sit 2 points above defending champions, Liverpool, are level on points with Chelsea and just 11 points from log leaders, Man City. Though, I must admit that this 2020/21 season has been very unpredictable mostly due to the void stadia every game week and also, congested fixtures.
So what has David Moyes done so far? Has he found the right tactical tweaks to his system or have West Ham been a product of luck?
To begin with, David Moyes has successfully shifted the mentality of the club – he took over from Manuel Pellegrini – from possession based to a more defensive but direct approach of playing. Possession based teams like Man City need quality players who can hold the ball even when under pressure, but since West Ham have not much of such players, they are flourishing playing without the ball. The players sit back and absorb pressure from the opposition, try to break play and then counter – with direct passes rather than short ones. Declan Rice has been very instrumental in this style of play for David Moyes as he connects the midfield and the defence. Rice – who Frank Lampard had shown so much interest in – plays in a double pivot alongside Soucek and has a very good eye for a pass.
For a region of about £20million, West Ham brought in Thomas Soucek and Vladimir Coufal, Czech Internationals. Vladimir Coufal has played the “flying fullback role” since he joined. He creates attacking threats in the wide areas when he overlaps and is quite good at getting crosses into the opposition box. He has also created the most chances from open play for West Ham this season and surely, this is impressive from a player many deemed was a defensive right back. As for Soucek, he has arguably been the best player for his side this season. One of his strengths lies in how he provides late runs from his deep position when West Ham are in their attacking phase. In few words, West Ham have made good, astute and shrewd signings recently.
Let’s talk about set pieces. For starters, a set piece is usually corner kicks, free kicks, penalties or any other situation when the ball goes dead. West Ham might not have a throw-in coach like Liverpool do, or Arsenal’s Andreas Georgson, but whoever is their set piece coach deserves some accolades. They might not have a free kick specialist like Southampton’s James Ward-Prowse but one thing that data shows us is that at present, West Ham have scored 13 goals from set pieces that are not penalties. This is one of the reasons behind their scintillating performance this season. As if that isn’t brilliant enough, they have conceded the fewest goals from set pieces this Premier League season. Yes, it is safe to say they are masters of set pieces.
Extensive Data Analysis
PPDA [PASSES PER DEFENSIVE ACTIONS]
PPDA is a data metric used to measure the intensity of how teams press to put it in very simple terms. The higher the PPDA, the lower the intensity of a team’s press and the lower the PPDA, the higher the intensity of a team’s press. Generally, defensive teams - “prime Inter Milan” – usually have a very high PPDA because they don’t press their opponents as they tend to invite and absorb pressure. Like I stated earlier on, Moyes has transformed the hammers into a defensive side, and so, they rank third on the table of teams with a high PPDA this Premier League season. With a PPDA of 17.66, they are behind West Brom(17.80) and Newcastle(17.89).
GOAL DIFFERENTIALS
West Ham have scored 37 premier league goals already. On the goals scored table, they sit in seventh place and are just 3 goals shy off Chelsea in sixth. Many might try to downplay their brilliant goal scoring due to the fact that about thirty-five percent of these goals have come from dead ball situations but still, goals scored remains goals scored.
They are eight on the expected goals, xG, table with an xG of 36.02. They are currently outperforming their expected goals by just one goal. This shows that they might not create many high value chances, but one thing they definitely don’t do is to waste the little ones they create.
Having conceded 28 goals already this season from an xGA(expected goals against) of 29.22, they are relatively doing well at the back and not just going forwards. West Ham have a goal difference of 9.
FORMATIONS
Recently, I was checking with a friend, the number of formations West Ham have played with this season and found out that they have played with ten different formations already.
With the 4-2-3-1, Moyes’ side have played over a thousand minutes (1080), have scored 14 goals and have let in 14 also. 555 minutes they have played with the 5-4-1 formation, have scored 12 goals and have conceded 8. 3-4-2-1 and 3-4-3 are among the formations, they have favoured this season.
SELECTED PLAYERS
Thomas Soucek has scored the most goals for his team despite being played in a deep role. With 8 goals in 2160 minutes played, he has been ridiculously good. He has an xG of 6.24 and an xG per 90 of 0.26.
Michail Antonio is the team’s recognised striker especially after the sale of Sebastian Haller – pronounced ‘Halayer’ – to Ajax. Antonio has a huge physique which is one of his strength as a striker. He has only managed to play 1083 minutes due to injuries sustained but as made those minutes count by providing 5 goals and 3 assists.
Jesse Lingard scored two dazzling goals on his debut for the side. 2 goals in 265 minutes is a good way to revive his failing footballing career. Only time will tell if his West Ham move would prove to be a good one or otherwise.
Note: All statistical data provided are for the Premier league only, doesn’t include any other competition West Ham partake in and are provided as at the time of writing.
