West Ham’s Simone Zaza is doing himself no favours with his movement

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The West Ham United player is struggling up front but is wasting too much time running around to no great effect.

West Ham United striker Simone Zaza was not exactly prolific prior to his loan move to the London Stadium. But he was at least touted as a player always willing to give 100 per cent for the team; a workhorse whose presence would be felt in other ways if not always in terms of goals.

However, so far this season the Italy international has looked woefully out of place in the Hammers’ line-up, a lone striker lacking the skillset to thrive in such a role and feeding on scraps.

That is not solely his fault; after all, manager Slaven Bilic should give him a speedy strike partner (Michail Antonio) and a regular supply line (Sofiane Feghouli) but despite those problems Zaza is not doing himself any favours.

For a player hailed as possessing a superb workrate and the power of an ox, he is failing to trouble defences week after week.

It is a swift fall from grace for a player that looked like the real deal in the first half of his debut against Watford, building play from the front with neat touches and wonderful lay-offs.

With West Ham 2-0 up in that fixture it looked like Bilic had struck gold, yet the capitulation that followed appeared to prompt the quickest change in form in Premier League history.

From brilliant to ineffective in no time at all, Zaza now runs around like a headless chicken, wasting his energy rather than getting in smart positions and taking chances – no matter how rare – that may come his way.

There is working hard and there is running about and the West Ham loanee needs to return to the former if he wants to prove the growing list of doubters wrong before it is too late.