When Sebastien Haller signed for West Ham this summer the fans were delighted. The Frenchman was brought in from Europa League semi-finalists Eintracht Frankfurt for a large fee of £45m (BBC), although so far he’s failed to really live up to expectations.
Those worries over his form are starting to increase too. The target man has scored three goals in his eleven games in the Premier League this season, and that really isn’t a decent return for a player who came in for £45m from a side who went deep into European competitions last season.
However, looking at the differences between West Ham United in 2019/20 and Eintracht Frankfurt in 2018/19 is very telling. For one, the Hammers are yet to use a formation with two forwards in the Premier League (Transfermarkt), whilst in the Bundesliga last season, Frankfurt only failed to play two upfront on five occasions out of 34 matchdays (Transfermarkt).
That’s a very telling statistic. Last season when Sebastien Haller was scoring for fun and helping his side progress all the way to the semi-finals of the Europa League before eventually falling to eventual finalists Chelsea, he was almost always used with a striker partner.
The partner he usually turned out with was obviously Luka Jovic, and they worked very well as a pair. At the end of the season, Haller ended with 20 goals and 12 assists in all competitions (Transfermarkt), yet this season it doesn’t look like he’ll get near those numbers.
His individual stats this season show that creatively he hasn’t been in the same form as he was last season, averaging fewer dribbles and key passes per game, even if he is having more shots and being dispossessed less this season (WhoScored).
Should Pellegrini switch to a 4-4-2?
Yes
No
If Manuel Pellegrini akes the change of system and goes to using two upfront then we could well be set to see the best of Haller, but until then he’ll be stuck feeding off scraps from wide-men Felipe Anderson and Andriy Yarmolenko.
