West Ham United lost 3-0 to Southampton on Sunday afternoon.
West Ham United’s Simone Zaza looks dejected after Southampton’s James Ward-Prowse scored
Pundit Chris Sutton has told BBC Sport that he thought West Ham United striker Simone Zaza was ‘pathetic’ against Southampton on Sunday afternoon.
West Ham’s dismal start to the season continued, as they were hammered 3-0 by Southampton thanks to goals from Charlie Austin, Dusan Tadic and James Ward-Prowse.
West Ham United’s Simone Zaza looks dejected
Slaven Bilic again saw his side turn in an embarrassing defensive display, with Ward-Prowse’s goal meaning that West Ham have now conceded 11 goals in their last three Premier League games.
West Ham have well-documented problems at the back, but Bilic also saw striker Simone Zaza serve up an anonymous performances in attack.
Zaza, 25, was signed on a season-long loan deal from Juventus last month, but has yet to get off the mark in front of goal after a number of disappointing performances, with Sunday yet another example.
Chris Sutton
The Italian looked cumbersome in the West Ham attack and never truly looked like scoring against Southampton, prompting a strong response from pundit Chris Sutton.
Speaking to BBC Sport, Sutton stated that he thought Zaza was ‘pathetic’ against Southampton, and believes West Ham’s players must show more responsibility for their displays, rather than simply blaming the struggles on the big move from Upton Park to the London Stadium.
West Ham United’s Simone Zaza looks dejected
“When players like Manuel Lanzini and Dimitri Payet, who were great last season, perform like that they are in trouble,” Sutton said. “Zaza? He was pathetic. They need to snap out of it and quickly. The big problem is they are disjointed and concede goals.”
“The players have a responsibility to provide the energy, passion and drive to get this crowd up. There might be teething problems with the stadium but the team on the pitch are not helping. We can make excuses about off-the-pitch stuff but the players have a responsibility to do better,” he added.
West Ham may face a huge decision on Zaza, as the loan deal struck with Juventus includes clause whereby the deal becomes permanent at a cost of £20m (The Guardian) upon playing a certain number of games, believed to be either 15 or 20.
Zaza has already played three Premier League games, and needs to either start finding the net or improving his all-round displays; or West Ham ad Bilic may be forced to make a bold decision and leave him out to avoid having to sign him permanently.
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