Dean Ashton has urged Sebastien Haller, during talkSPORT’s live coverage of West Ham’s defeat to Manchester United, to ‘up his fitness levels’ and ‘adapt his game’.
The 26-year-old started West Ham’s defeat at the London Stadium last night and failed to have an impact against Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side.
In West Ham’s previous game, Haller was dropped to the bench for the now-injured Michail Antonio despite scoring the winner the game before.
Upon his return, he wasn’t able to make the impact he would have wanted, as Ashton shared his thoughts on the player and what David Moyes might end up doing.
“If not you need someone to come in and hurt the opposition and take his chances,” said Ashton. “Be confident. He does. He lacks confidence, Sebastien Haller. He has got plenty of ability. He’s more aggressive. Even in this game.
“But it’s the confidence levels that when you get in front of goal. You take your chances or you even look like you are going to take your chances. That would be the worry. It wouldn’t surprise me if West Ham do go out and strengthen in that area because so many parts of that West Ham team have looked a lot stronger at the start of the season.
“If you are going to spend that sort of money on a player usually you buy him to build around him and give him the best opportunity possible. I am sure he would enjoy playing up alongside Antonio but David Moyes I don’t think is going to play that system.
“He has to adapt his game then. He has to be more aggressive. He has to up his fitness levels because Antonio is setting a bar so high that if he doesn’t get close to it, it’s going to look like he has had a poor game.”
Moyes has made a lot of correct calls since returning to East London, but his decision to drop Haller to the bench for the win against Aston Villa was a mistake.
With Antonio’s injury history and Haller scoring the winner the game before, the club’s big-money signing should have started that match so he could build some momentum and form, which has been missing since he joined the club last summer.
Understandably, if you were in Haller’s shoes, you would have felt annoyed. But he still has these coming games to prove that he can be a consistent starter and performer for the club.
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