West Ham’s struggles for goals this season have been a major issue as they aim for a strong finish. Despite impressive performances from key players, the Hammers have found it difficult to consistently find the back of the net, limiting their attacking potential.
I spoke to James Jones about West Ham’s goal-scoring woes. With the season progressing, the club will need to address their attacking options if they are to avoid any further setbacks.
I spoke to James Jones about West Ham’s goal-scoring woes. With the season progressing, the club will need to address their attacking options if they are to avoid any further setbacks.
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00:00West Ham's lack of goals has become a growing concern, with their attacking struggles threatening
00:08to derail their season. Despite possessing quality in forward areas, they've often failed
00:15to convert chances, leaving fans frustrated and putting pressure on the manager to find
00:21a solution. With key players misfiring and creativity lacking at times, the Hammers must
00:28address their issues in the summer if they want to stay competitive for next season.
00:34So what's gone wrong in front of goal and how can they fix it? To break it all down,
00:39I spoke to James Jones of London World.
00:41Yeah, obviously, you know, we've mentioned a few times the forward line this season for
00:47West Ham has been very unlucky with injuries, but there still has been that lack of goals.
00:53You know, Fulcrook came in and you thought maybe our number nine here, he gets injured,
00:57Antonio injured, Bowen was injured for a long time and you sort of saw the impact of his
01:02injury when he came back and started scoring goals again. Do you feel that that's an issue
01:08that they've got to address in the summer and get right this time round? Obviously,
01:11they will have players coming back from injury, but you know, as you say, Evan Ferguson hasn't
01:16really quite worked and they want that number nine. I mean, they are gold dust in today's
01:20game, but they do win you so many more games than they lose you.
01:26Yeah, it's still a concern and it will be a concern in the summer to ensure that we
01:31get the right players in. But it's also, like you said, the players that are currently there,
01:37we should be doing better in front of goal. Mohamed Kourdas is having a really, really
01:41poor season by his standards. The hope was that when Mbappe left and Graham Potter came
01:46in, maybe that would invigorate a player like Mo Kourdas and give him a little bit more
01:50confidence and that hasn't happened. Jared Bowen has spent most of the season as the
01:57striker when he's far better as a right winger, far more effective as a right winger, but
02:01he's done a great job in his more central role. He's brilliant and if we can get him
02:07back into the form that he was last season, no doubt we'll be scoring a lot more goals
02:10as a club. So while he's fixed one of the issues in terms of the defensive problems
02:16that we had, he seems to have fixed that. We've now got a problem where we're not scoring
02:19enough goals. So yeah, it will be a worry for Graham Potter, but I think long term,
02:25if he can spend the money wisely in January, sorry, in the summer, then I'm quite confident
02:32that we'll have a side that can be defensively solid, but then also quite ruthless in attack.
02:38But it's going to need a lot of work and I don't think fans should be expecting it to
02:42happen straight away. But there has to be an immediate improvement on what we're seeing
02:45now.
02:46And Evan Ferguson obviously signed in the January window on loan from Brighton. He hasn't
02:53got a start yet. He's not starting games. He's only 20, of course. You said that a couple
03:00of seasons ago and seeing how good he was, it was quite tough to believe how young he
03:03was producing such fantastic performances for Brighton. What's the sort of situation
03:09with him? Why is he not starting games? Why is Potter maybe looking at him and trying
03:14to slowly get him up to speed after coming back from injury, of course, and not really
03:19hitting the heights at Brighton? On the paper, it was a great signing, but at only 20 years
03:24of age, he's got so much to learn and so much more to go. You feel he's got a lot more to
03:29give as well in terms of a Premier League career. What's the sort of situation with
03:33Evan Ferguson and how can you see him fitting in if they are to make a permanent move for
03:39him in the summer?
03:41Well, it is actually quite a surprise that he hasn't started a game for us yet. No-one
03:45expects him to walk straight into starting XI and hit the ground running, given he's
03:50had a couple of injuries. He was out earlier in the season and then by that time struggled
03:55to get game time at Brighton because Danny Welbert was playing so well. He was out of
04:00match practice, probably a little bit out of match fitness, and it's kind of just felt
04:03like, yeah, it's going to take him a couple of weeks to really get back into the swimming
04:06things and re-familiarise himself with Grandpa, who obviously gave him his debut at Brighton
04:10all those years ago. West Ham career, it just hasn't worked. If it doesn't work, I'm quite
04:18pleased that there isn't an obligation or an option to buy in the summer. We can kind
04:23of go, thanks very much, but no thanks, and send it back to Brighton and see what happens.
04:26But he's got a lot of work to do between now and the end of the season to make us want
04:32to pay what I think Brighton want £40 million for him. He's got to do a lot in the final
04:37nine games of the season for us to feel like that would be a worthwhile investment in the
04:42summer.