The West Ham United midfielder was used out of position against Liverpool, so how did he get on?
West Ham United’s defensive injury problems saw midfielder Cheikhou Kouyate start in a back-three when the Hammers faced Liverpool this weekend and, unfortunately for the hosts’ manager Slaven Bilic, things did not go according to plan.
West Ham lost 4-1 on the day, with Liverpool running out comfortable winners and leaving Hammers fans to bemoan yet another below-par performance.
Among the players to be criticised, despite starting in a relatively unfamiliar role, was Kouyate.
The 27-year-old is always ready to step in when a problem position needs to be solved but that is not always to the benefit of his team.
At his best Kouyate is one of the most important central midfielders in the Premier League, able to dictate play and get his fair share of goals to boot. But it has been a while since West Ham fans saw that version of the player.
This season he has featured 12 times in all competitions and he will be expected to do much more in the weeks ahead to ensure West Ham turn their miserable form around for good.
After the game against Liverpool we took to Twitter to see what West Ham fans thought of Kouyate’s latest performance and you can read a selection of what we found below:
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