5-4-1: This West Ham XI will definitely beat Middlesbrough

On Saturday, West Ham welcome Premier League new boys Middlesbrough to the London Stadium with the prospect of obtaining an unwanted five game losing run, one that has been mainly down to our defensive calamities.

West Ham will also be playing against ex-hammer Stuart Downing and you just know that he will be trying his hardest to get on the score sheet to add salt into some very deep West Ham wounds.

So how should our beloved and demoralised Hammers line up against Boro this weekend.

Here’s a look at how we should line up…

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Goalkeeper

Starting in goal has to be Darren Randolph. He featured in the cup game v Accrington Stanley and gained a clean sheet.

Adrian does need dropping for this game as we need a goalkeeper with confidence in between the sticks to bark down the necks of our defence.

Defence

At left-back, I’d like to see Ogbonna play there.

Angelo has played as a left back for Torino, Juventus and even for the Italian nation side. Naturally left footed and being our most experienced left sided defender, he fits the bill in our heavily affected area of the pitch. He should play left-back and stay back no going forward and making sure that our left side stops the oppositions right winger.

At right back, Arbeloa should play his natural position and do what he does best… defend. As versatile as he is, the 33-year-old needs to play as a deep right back, he hasn’t got the legs to march up the side-line so it would be beneficial for him to be disciplined and make sure that the defensive line is under control.

A centre back trio of Reid, Oxford and Collins is my preferred selection, with Oxford being the only defender out of the five to attack from deep linking up with the midfielders.

The boy is class and regardless of contract talks, he should be playing. His time is now and he will do well in a role where he shouldn’t be man marking players.

A free role defender would serve our back line well, especially with a deep pairing of Reid and Collins. Collins and Reid should be man marking with Oxford tracking back to cover, their strength and defending in the air is crucial for us to stop any long balls coming our way; they aren’t gifted with pace and their job should be making the strikers’ life hell by being within arm’s length of a tackle.

Midfield

I would play Obiang in the DM role, Kouyate in the centre and Payet and Feghouli on the wings as my midfield four.

Obiang should be playing deep in front of the back 5 with Oxford pushing up for him to partner and protect the defensive line, stopping any balls going beyond them.

With possession, Obiang can distribute the ball to Payet and Feghouli from deep. Kouyate is the best person in the centre of the pitch, he has a fantastic engine and would be very effective linking in an attacking role.

When the opposition’s defence has the ball, he should be chasing them down and applying pressure to let them make mistakes. If he keeps chasing, he will get the ball as he has great inception skills.

Payet and Feghouli should be given a roaming role on the wings, obtaining the ball and going inside to provide a through ball for our striker to run on to.

Feghouli and Payet’s skill and pace would be more effective in the middle where the opposition’s central midfielders lack immediate speed.

This impact would draw in tackles which would allow free kicks to be taken in the middle of the park and outside the penalty area, which suits Dimi to have a shot on goal.

Striker

This guy gets one last chance to prove his worth – Simone Zaza gets the nod.

Zaza has been unconvincing for me but I feel he would be more effective running across the defensive line, not dropping back to link up with play, running onto through balls provided by our midfielders and beating the offside trap.

Zaza has the pace and strength to get himself onto a potential one-on-one with the goalkeeper.

His has a good finish when he gets into those scoring opportunities; he isn’t an instinctive poacher but when he runs with the ball towards goal, I think we’ll be quite surprised what he can do.

Zaza’s goals to games ratio is 0.37 per game, so statistically he is due a goal now.

Formation and Subs…

Subs to come on would be Lanzini, Noble and Tore.

Get these guys on when/if we are winning the game to give them some confidence to play from a positive position towards around the 60-70 minute mark, something that hasn’t happened all season – to secure a win in the last third of the game would do wonders for the morale.

The key elements for West Ham is not allowing our defensive line to show space so Middlesbrough can switch play and use their pacey wingers to beat our slow centre backs.

We need to be composed but disciplined to make sure we do not expose ourselves. The team need to be patient and need to trust each other.

If we play like this and setup this way I would be confident we can secure a 2-0 victory.

I hope Slav is reading this…