West Ham fans have been left frustrated game after game this season. Sebastien Haller has been left isolated and cut adrift from the rest of the side as he’s tried to make an impact as a lone striker, and the supporters want to see him partnered up with someone to get the best out of him.
That mine might not be Albian Ajeti, the club’s £8m summer signing from FC Basel (BBC), but it could be a different man – who doesn’t usually find himself playing upfront – in the form of the veteran Ukranian Andriy Yarmolenko.
The 30-year-old is usually found plying his trade on the wing, yet in his most recent outing, an international game for his country against Serbia, he was used as the lone forward in a 4-1-4-1 formation as he helped his side bounce back from 2-0 down to draw 2-2.
So far in his West Ham career, we’ve seen Yarmolenko used as a winger on 19 occasions, yet the only time he wasn’t deployed out wide was when he was played upfront for just 45 minutes in a defeat to Wolves back in January this year (Transfermarkt).
However, now it could be time to utilise the versatile big man in a different system as a centre-forward. The Ukranian attacker has got enough about him to score goals from wherever he’s deployed, be it as a striker or a winger, and using him alongside Haller could work a treat.
Haller managed to provide a whopping 12 assists last season in all competitions as well as 20 goals (Transfermarkt), so having him alone upfront with no one to feed off of and provide chances for nullifies a lethal part of his game.
Can Yarmolenko be effective for us as a striker?
Yes
No
The most natural striker at the club to accompany Haller certainly isn’t Yarmolenko, but with Ajeti still settling in and Michail Antonio returning from injury, the best option for the role looks like the Ukrainian, who could well find a home for himself as a goalscorer.
