da bet7： Sebastien Haller is facing his final chance to make a success of his career with West Ham United after Irons icon Frank McAvennie called for the Frenchman to stop “sulking” and get with the show.
What’s he said?
da poker： Speaking with Football Insider, McAvennie has torn into Haller after the striker failed to offer any impact at the top of the pitch against Liverpool in the absence of Michail Antonio, who was forced to sit out the Hammers’ trip to Anfield with a hamstring injury.
The strain is expected to sideline Antonio for much of November, but David Moyes has already confirmed that the 30-year-old is back on an exercise bike and moving well following further ultrasound scans that revealed the issue to not be as severe as first feared.
Antonio’s sooner-than-expected return has reduced the window for Haller to impress after a stilted maiden campaign in east London, featuring just seven goals in 32 Premier League appearances of which four came in the opening eight games.
McAvennie expects much more from West Ham’s club-record £45million signing, beginning in Saturday night’s London derby with Fulham.
“I don’t get the boys when they’re not in the team and they’re sulking,” he said. “If somebody takes your place, which never happened to me, you fight to get it back.
“Antonio is going to be out for a few weeks, so you’ve got two or three weeks of games to prove that you’re the number one striker. If he doesn’t do that, then he’s got nobody else to blame but himself.
“He’s got it in him, sometimes he does something and you’re like ‘wow, that’s a striker’ but then his head goes down and you can’t do that in the Premier League.
“All the great strikers didn’t mope about with their head down, they go again and that’s what the big man’s got to do. Hopefully, Haller can get with the programme, keep his head up, and start smiling.”
Haller’s appearance at Liverpool was the 24-year-old’s first Premier League start for the season following five substitute cameos totalling 50 minutes, along with three Carabao Cup outings in which the former U21 international netted four times.
Last chance saloon
As McAvennie states, Antonio’s injury has opened a glorious window for Haller to demonstrate his worth to Moyes, but the 26-year-old wasted his first shot at success by struggling to impress at Anfield.
The now £27m-rated forward could only register 17 touches against Liverpool, lost possession 10 times, attempted just two ground duels, completed a mere five passes and failed to register a shot on goal or attempted dribble, per SofaScore.
His issues can stem from the system Moyes is favouring, though, as Haller was a success in Germany with Eintracht Frankfurt as the Bundesliga side did not persist with a one-striker formation which leaves the 26-year-old isolated.
Instead, he thrived alongside Ante Rebic and Luka Jovic, and finding a shape closer to that is how Jonathan Harding, a journalist based in Germany who covered Haller’s final Frankfurt season, believes Moyes can get the most out of the attacker Niko Kovac once claimed “even a bulldozer can’t move”.
“A lot of things will have to go wrong for him not to deliver at West Ham,” Harding told The Athletic. “His playing style, athleticism and build make him suited to the Premier League.
“But he needs someone else up there with him. I think it would be wrong to play him up front on his own. It would be a big mistake if West Ham play him up top and use him in a similar way they did with Andy Carroll. Don’t do it, because it would be a big waste of Haller’s talent.”
But a lot has gone wrong for Haller in his brief time in east London to now be a misfit in claret and blue who Manuel Pellegrini bet big on succeeding. The question is, can Haller now use Antonio’s injury to his benefit, or will this prove to be his last hurrah?
AND in other news, West Ham are considering a January bid to sign an “explosive” talent.