Despite there being so much excitement and optimism around West Ham‘s summer transfer window, one player in particular has not had the best of starts to life in east London.
Guido Rodriguez joined on a free transfer from Real Betis and has since started every single game so far this season.
But many are now pointing to his role in the midfield as one of the biggest reasons why the start to the season has been so underwhelming.
The Argentine has admittedly looked very slow out of possession and while he hasn’t really put a foot wrong with the ball, his lack of pace and positional sense has often left us exposed in the middle of the pitch, which Chelsea ultimately took advantage of on several occasions last weekend.
Incidentally, the midfielder was hauled off before half-time in that game and replaced by Tomas Soucek, who was able to add a bit more steel and bite in the midfield.
Once Soucek was introduced, we looked tighter and a lot more organised in midfield.
And the We Are West Ham boys aknowledged that this week by calling on Julen Lopetegui to replace Rodriguez with Soucek in the starting XI, at least until Carlos Soler is up to full fitness.
Speaking on this week’s show, Will Pugh said: “I think, just for that issue alone, of covering a bit of ground and getting stuck in, I want to see Soucek back in there.
“Have him alongside Alvarez, the deeper lying one, but then Soucek was usually one of the top three runners in the Premier League last season, let alone just at West Ham.
“I just think, get him back in there. I know he’s not great on the ball, he really isn’t…”
Co-host James Jones then then interjected by pointing out just how impactful Soucek was against Chelsea.
“You say that, but when he came on against Chelsea, he was like a man possessed,” he added
“I thought he had a really good game. Ok, we conceded that one right at the beginning of the second half while he was on the pitch, but we didn’t concede again with him on it, and they only really had one stonewall opportunity towards the end, where it just went wide, but beyond that, in the second half, Chelsea barely threatened us in the same way they did in the first half.
“So maybe that is the answer and he’s the one [Rodriguez] that loses out. We won’t see him for a while, I don’t think, from the start.”
It was one of only a few things James and Will agreed on on this week’s show, as they clashed heavily on their thoughts about Lopetegui.
