Formation change, Rice at the back or give youth a chance: How West Ham will cope with only one fit

It is rare for David Moyes to put a timescale on players who are injured, but the frequency with which he is able to find solutions is one of his many strengths.

Issa Diop could be sidelined for the remainder of the season with an ankle injury, which leaves Craig Dawson as the only recognisable centre-back at the club. In his press conference, the Scotsman refused to say how long the Frenchman will be sidelined for, but it’s thought Diop will be out for up to four weeks.

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Angelo Ogbonna sustained a season-ending anterior cruciate ligament injury against Liverpool in November, while Kurt Zouma suffered an ankle knock in the recent 2-0 defeat away to Brentford.

Yet whenever Moyes has been tasked with an injury-enforced change, he has found alternatives from his threadbare squad. Ahead of West Ham United’s Premier League encounter with Chelsea, there will anticipation over whether he changes formation, plays Declan Rice or Ben Johnson at centre-back or gives under-23s captain Aji Alese an opportunity.

The Athletic has looked at what Moyes may look to do on Sunday.

Wing-back system 

West Ham have mainly played with a 4-2-3-1 formation this season. Yet with Dawson as his only fit centre-half, it seems likely Moyes will revert to 5-4-1.

The players are familiar with this system having become accustomed to it during the 2020-21 season.

On Sunday against Chelsea, Arthur Masuaku would play in his favoured left wing-back position, Aaron Cresswell on the left of a back three, Dawson in the middle, Ben Johnson on the right and either Ryan Fredericks or Vladimir Coufal as a right wing-back.

The only issue with this formation is you lose an attacking player. The trio of Manuel Lanzini, Pablo Fornals and Said Benrahma would be vying for the final space to start alongside Michail Antonio and Jarrod Bowen, with Rice and Soucek in the centre of midfield.

Should Moyes play 5-4-1 there should be encouragement given the previous success with the system. When the Scotsman initially returned to the helm in December 2019, he experimented with a back three but did not have the personnel to make it work. Nine months later during the 2-1 loss to Arsenal, there were signs it could yield positive results.

West Ham had an identity and it played a big role in the club finishing sixth last season.

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Moyes reverted to the wing-back system in the 3-1 league defeat away to Tottenham Hotspur in March this year. It is one of the rare occasions when it didn’t work for West Ham and that poor performance may sway Moyes to stick with the 4-2-3-1, even despite Diop’s injury.

Where it fell short can be seen here, where Masuaku lost possession in the build-up to Zouma’s own goal due to a lapse in concentration. There was a noticeable gap between Dawson and the Frenchman before Harry Kane teed up Son Heung-min for Tottenham’s second goal.

Son’s third strike was made all the more simple as Zouma and Dawson contested for the same high ball.

“Incredibly disappointed… if you were a U11 coach you would be disappointed, was Moyes’ verdict of the goal.

He will hope there isn’t a repeat should he go with this system on Sunday.

Declan Rice in defence

Ahead of West Ham’s second-leg tie against Lyon, Moyes toyed with the idea of playing Rice at centre-back. Zouma was sidelined with an ankle injury, which he sustained against Brentford. Diop seemed to be the obvious replacement but Moyes did not rule out the possibility of Rice deputising for the injured Frenchman.

“Declan has played at centre-back before and would give us a different dimension, he said. “We’ve got that possibility. But we know he’s a big miss if we take him out of the middle of the pitch.

In the end, Moyes opted to start Diop, who performed well in the 3-0 win. But with the defender now also sidelined with injury, Moyes is once more contemplating whether Rice should partner Dawson in defence. It is a position the England international played frequently in his youth days at Chelsea and during his initial transition from under-23s to the first-team at West Ham.

Although Rice is capable of playing at centre-half, the last time he played in that position was during the fourth round Carabao Cup loss against Everton in September 2020.

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Since the 2019-20 season, the midfielder has made 118 appearances in all competitions. But only two have been starts at centre-back. The other fixture was the 2-0 loss to Wolves in June 2020.

The 23-year-old sees himself as a midfielder, with the intention of developing into a box-to-box midfielder. In November he was asked whether he agrees with pundits that he would be better off as a defender.

“It’s laughable,” said Rice. “I think you can see in my game I’m never a centre-back. I feel like I’ve got too much ability to be playing at the back. I want to be progressive and athletic. I feel like I can do that in a midfield sense.

“I feel like now I’m not just a holding midfielder anymore. I was always labelled as one that just sits in front of the back four. I really now want to see myself as a box-to-box player where I can get up and down and start creating things as well as getting back and helping the team as well. There is still a long way to go and I can improve so much.

Rice is widely viewed as one of the best young midfielders in Europe. As a midfield duo, Rice and Tomas Soucek have struggled to reprise their consistent performances from last season, but playing Rice in defence would make West Ham more vulnerable in midfield.

It is worth remembering Rice had an uncharacteristically poor game when he played at centre-back against Everton. He played alongside Fabian Balbuena, with the midfielder partly at fault for two goals in the 4-1 loss.

In the graphic below, Dominic Calvert-Lewin makes it seem like he is about to receive a pass from Michael Keane, but the forward makes a clever run that gives him a slight advantage over Rice.

Keane plays a long ball towards Calvert-Lewin, who scores the opener past Darren Randolph.

Calvert-Lewin scored a hat-trick in this fixture.

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Rice will admit his defensive positioning could have been better for the striker’s second goal.

When the ball is threaded towards Calvert-Lewin, he is slightly ahead of Rice who is unable to prevent the forward from dispatching his strike into the bottom left-hand corner.

These are just two examples of Rice being caught out in defence. He is more suited to being a ball-carrying midfielder with his penchant for tackling and the occasional shots from distance. Rice occupying his midfield role against Chelsea seems the better option.

Ben Johnson at centre-back

In the event of defensive shortages, you can rely on Johnson to be on hand to solve Moyes’ dilemma. Although the versatile defender is yet to play at centre-back for the first team, he occasionally featured there for the under 23s.

There is an outside chance the 22-year-old will start alongside Dawson in a 4-2-3-1 formation. Moyes was in attendance at the London Stadium when Johnson impressed at centre-half in the under-23’s league opener against Arsenal this season. In that game, the England under-21 international played in a back three alongside Aji Alese and Jamal Baptiste.

Games against Fulham, Newcastle United and Newport County in the EFL Trophy in 2019-20 are other times Johnson was tasked with playing at centre-back. He has repeatedly shown he is never fazed by the occasion. Should he get the nod to start in a back four, he has the mental toughness to deal with defensive duties against Kai Havertz and co.

Aji Alese

Alese started the season as fifth choice at centre-back, behind Dawson, Zouma, Diop and Ogbonna. He has had to wait patiently for an opportunity. If Moyes selects the 21-year-old it would be richly deserved for his fine form with the under-23s. He scored a terrific solo goal against Swansea under-23s, and in December made his European debut in the 1-0 loss to Dinamo Zagreb in the final Europa League group match.

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In January, League One side Plymouth Argyle enquired about signing Alese on loan, but were told he was not available.

The defender is at the age where he needs to play regular football. He is now waiting to see if Moyes is willing to give him another chance.

It is worth noting there have been other players who seized their opportunity at West Ham when in similar situations.

Reece Oxford, 16 at the time, was named man of the match and impressed on his league debut against Arsenal in August 2015. A baby-faced Freddie Sears scored on his first-team debut against Blackburn Rovers in May 2008, and some may remember a 17-year-old Tony Cottee scoring in his first senior appearance against Tottenham Hotspur in 1983.

David Martin kept a clean sheet on his debut in the memorable 1-0 victory against Chelsea in 2019. Dapo Afolayan, Alese’s former under-23s team-mate, scored from the bench in the FA Cup win against Doncaster Rovers. And in February 2019, Ben Johnson caught the eye in his first league start against Manchester City, where he came up against Riyad Mahrez.

Alese, who is known for being a quiet leader, is comfortable playing from the back and, most importantly, is a left-footed defender. Dawson and Zouma have formed a solid defensive partnership in Ogbonna’s absence but, barring youngster Baptiste, Alese is the only other senior left-footed centre-half.

The former Accrington Stanley loanee joined the club when he was eight and made his first-team debut against Hull City in the Carabao Cup in September 2020. His current deal expires at the end of next season, although there is the option to extend for a further year. He has received a combined total of 21 caps for England from under-16 to under-20 level.

Moyes has shown he is capable of finding solutions whenever a player gets injured, and for the first time in a long while there will be great intrigue when West Ham announce their team at 1.15 pm on Sunday.

(Top Photo: Claudio Villa/Getty Images)

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