da heads bet： This article is part of Football FanCast’s Opinion series, which provides analysis, insight and opinion on any issue within the beautiful game, from Paul Pogba’s haircuts to League Two relegation battles…
da esoccer bet： West Ham may have struggled in goal of late but the stats suggest that Manuel Pellegrini’s side have been down on luck.
On the chalkboard
The Hammers have just 12 goals in ten league games this term and the finger of blame has been pointed in several directions.
Pellegrini has stated that more movement is required of Sebastien Haller, but fans think he has targeted the wrong player, and their vocal criticism of Felipe Anderson and Manuel Lanzini would suggest there has been a lack of service.
Watch West Ham United Live Streams With StreamFootball.tv Below
However, Declan Rice believes that the team isn’t doing a lot wrong, suggesting it is a case of being more clinical, saying: “We’re creating enough, but we’re not scoring enough. In the Premier League you need to kill teams off and we haven’t been doing that of late.”
Under performing or simply unlucky?
According to the xG (expected goals) stats provided by Understat, the East London outfit should have 1.59 more goals from open play and 1.12 from corners – with Jordan Pickford’s remarkable save to keep out Angelo Ogbonna at Goodison Park the stand-out in that area.
Evidently, the xG stats indicate that Rice may be onto something in regard to their lack of proficiency in front of goal.
The positive for West Ham this season is that they have been competitive in all but one league match, the exception being the match against Manchester City, and if they could add more goals they could be challenging for the European qualification spots.
Pellegrini recognised the flaw last week by replacing Lanzini with Robert Snodgrass, with the Scot scoring where Lanzini had missed a couple of weeks before against Crystal Palace.
Under Pellegrini the Hammers have slightly improved going forward, scoring 52 league goals last term compared to 48 the year before, and the match against Sheffield United proved that they can be dominant in possession with 61% of the ball.
However, that fixture also underlined their poor finishing, with Anderson and Snodgrass guilty of missing chances they should have finished, and that explains why West Ham have won only three times in the league this season.
Another factor worth noting is Sebastien Haller replacing Marko Arnautovic. In ten games he has shown glimpses of what he can offer but it will take time for him to adapt and discover his mojo in front of goal.
When he adapts and hits top form the Hammers might just start to see a notable upturn in their fortunes.