Cutting Chris Hughton some slack, there is absolutely nothing wrong having goalkeepers touch the ball more than strikers in modern day football.
With an over emphasis to build attacks from the back, defenders and goalkeepers are most likely to be on the ball than strikers who are typically required to make runs to receive passes from the back or to create space for teammates.
As such, seeing Antoine Semenyo touch the ball 15 times in 64 minutes against Mexico with goalkeeper Lawrence Ati-Zigi touching the ball 46 times in 90 minutes, shouldn’t lead to an apocalypse.
Thankfully for Black Stars head coach Chris Hughton, the international break is swiftly over and football talk has already turned to the fleet of top European club football games coming.
Beyond this weekend’s brilliant slate of games including Chelsea’s tie against Arsenal and Manchester City’s tie against Brighton and Hove Albion, there are UEFA Champions League games too before a crazy slate of games are cleared on October 28 (Barcelona v Real Madrid) and October 29 (Manchester City v Manchester United, Inter Milan v AS Roma and Napoli v AC Milan).
After such piss poor performances against Mexico and USA, only the return of club football can take the heat from the massive fallout off the Black Stars poor showing in the penultimate FIFA international window of 2023.
This situation adds to the concern many Ghanaians have about the team’s chances of succeeding at the 2023 AFCON considering there are just two games to play in November before attention turns to next year’s tournament in Cote D’Ivoire.
Veteran forward Jordan Ayew sure does have his fair share of critics for his polarizing role in the Black Stars but even the most ardent anti-Jordan fan would appreciate the Crystal Palace man’s honesty.
Tabbing Ghana’s run against Mexico and USA as a “reality check” and falling in a string of performances that have made the Black Stars “know its level” is an apt description of what the Stars went through and where the team’s present status lies. (Click highlighted text to read story)
None of the Black Stars players exactly covered themselves in glory including the man of the moment Mohammed Kudus. Despite his brilliant talent, Kudus was flat out average and simply couldn’t elevate the team above the mediocre performances it put up.
Heading into the double header of friendly games, there was a serious push for West Ham United manager David Moyes to make Kudus a consistent starter in the Premier League and not have him make appearances off the bench as has been the case since his move from Ajax.
That type of talk reached a crescendo when Kudus stepped off the bench and fired in a fine strike to give West Ham a 2-2 draw against Newcastle United. Football legend, Asamoah Gyan has pointed out the benefits of this cautious approach by Moyes citing his time in the Premier League with Sunderland as a prime example. (Click highlighted text to read story)
Kudus has enjoyed a fine run of starting berths in the Europa League and Carabao Cup though as he warms himself into life in England.
However, fans shouldn’t expect Kudus to start games especially in the English Premier League for a while as Moyes continues to manage him and here is why:
Nothing broken yet to fix at West Ham
Don’t fix what isn’t broken and this very popular saying fits right into the state of West Ham at the time of writing. The team ranks seventh in the EPL standings on the back of winning four of eight games while drawing two and losing two along the way.
The team is on track to finish in the top half of the league and challenge for a Europa League spot which is miles off what it dealt with last season.
With a starting unit that has Lucas Paqueta, Jarrod Bowen, James Ward-Prowse occupying the attacking spots behind Michail Antonio, there is no point rocking the boat by forcing to fix Kudus in this unit.
Kudus is a direct replacement for Paqueta but the Brazilian has been in fine form this season marking a departure from an up and down debut campaign after moving from Olympique Lyon.
Bowen is making the England squad ahead of guys like Raheem Sterling and Ward-Prowse has been simply sensational as a new signing from Southampton.
Room is always made for an incredible talent like Kudus but for a conservative coach like Moyes maintaining some semblance of defensive solidity is always prioritized hence the hesitance to start Kudus right away.
West Ham’s improved depth and versatility
By adding guys like Ward-Prowse and Edson Alvarez, David Moyes has quite a handful of ways to set his team up irrespective how stiff he tends to be tactically.
Alvarez and Ward- Prowse can pair together in a double pivot in front of the backline or Alvarez can slide next to Tomas Soucek as has been the case since the Mexican settled in London in a 4-2-3-1 system. Ward-Prowse occupies the central spot behind the lead striker in such a setup or plays next to either Soucek or Alvarez as a deep playmaker.
Even in this space, Kudus is likely to miss out on a starting berth as Said Benrahma and Pablo Fornals (mainly due to his defensive work rate) are right footed fits who are ahead of Kudus in the pecking order. Before the arrival of Ward-Prowse and Alvarez, Kudus’ chances of starting consistently would have scaled up tremendously.
In a 4-3-3 system where Alvarez is flanked by Ward-Prowse and Soucek on either side, the personnel remains the same due to the group’s ability to play in such a setup.
Health, downturn in form
Embattled Manchester United defender Harry Maguire talked about the inevitability of injuries as one of the reasons he should see more game time with the Red Devils despite being clearly the least favourite centre back for Man United manager Erik Ten Hag.
The same applies to Kudus as his impressive stint as a “false nine” at Ajax means West Ham’s injury prone strike options in Michail Antonio and back up striker Danny Ings are likely to miss significant time to injury.
Kudus could play his way into the starting unit through this avenue after coming off the bench to replace Antonio on a couple of occasions already.
At this point, health isn’t particularly an issue at West Ham and as mentioned earlier, the form is just right so maintaining the status quo with the starting unit sans Kudus is just right.
AFCON Factor (to an extent)
Looking at the Black Stars shaky run in recent years and under Chris Hughton, there is a strong sense that the team might end up exiting the 2023 AFCON early just as it did in the 2021 edition. That would mean Kudus could end up missing just a game or two EPL games at most and that wouldn’t hurt West Ham’s march in the 2023-2024 league season.
However, the magic of tournament football means Ghana turns around its fortunes and goes on a deep run and possibly lifts the title. That would mean Kudus misses at least five league games aside possibly those in the FA Cup and Europa League.
In an indirect way, by adopting a slow approach to introduce Kudus into the starting unit and keeping Benrahma also as a substitute, David Moyes could be prepping his side to deal with the absences of the African attacking duo down the road.
Bowen is untouchable at this point, Lucas Paqueta didn’t play for Brazil and Ward-Prowse didn’t get called up by England in the recent international window (unlike Kudus) and all three are expected to start for West Ham against Aston Villa on Sunday.
As such, expect Kudus on the bench this weekend and maybe for a while in the Premier League.