New Signing: Morgan Amalfitano

Morgan Amalfitano

DOB: 20/03/1985

Age: 29

Position: Winger

Previous Club: Oympique de Marseille
Previous Division: Ligue 1

Transfer Date: 01/09/2014

Reported Fee: £1m

Analysis
In the final throws of the transfer window, West Ham United rolled the dice once more to bring in one-time French international Morgan Amalfitano from Marseille.

The winger spent last season on loan in the Premier League with West Bromwich Albion, and returns to England for a fee of around £1m, on a one year deal with a further two year option.

Amalfitano's arrival sees the squad bolstered in wide areas, increasing our roster of wingers to four, and strengthening the side after the departure of Mohamed Diamé earlier in the day.

So how does Amalfitano compare to his new colleagues, and a couple of departed part-time widemen?

Comparison
In terms of chances created, the new man compares favourably.

In his time with the Baggies last season, Amalfitano created 1.89 chances per game, a rate only bested by Stewart Downing (2.23). In fact, his rate of creativity was greater than Mohamed Diamé, Joe Cole and Ricardo Vaz Te combined (1.82).

The Frenchman also compares well when it comes to goal involvements.

As well as netting four times for West Brom last season, Amalfitano recorded three assists, meaning his combined goal involvement stood at a respectable 7 goals.

As you can see in the chart below, the departed Diamé had the best record of West Ham's widemen last season, with a total of 6.

The record of four goals scored is made more impressive by the fact that the wideman attempted fewer shots per 90 minutes than all of his competitors, bar Matt Jarvis.

Amalfitano only attempted 1.14 shots per game last season, compared to 2.18 by Diamé and 3.47 from Vaz Te.

Strengths
Amalfitano's main strength as a footballer is his attacking intent. He enjoys running with the ball and taking men on, and gets the ball into the box with real regularity.

Last season, Amalfitano attempted a whopping 3.74 take ons per 90 minutes. In the West Ham squad last season, this figure was only bested by Ravel Morrison (4.52) and Mohamed Diamé (5.82). And with a success rate of 47%, it was a common site to see the Frenchman beating fullbacks for fun and scampering away down the flank.

And there is end product too.

Last season, only Stewart Downing and Ahmed Elmohamdy (Hull City) put in more successful crosses than Amalfitano. In total, he attempted 7.49 crosses per 90 minutes - less than Downing (10.41) and Jarvis (8.11) - with a success rate of 26% (Downing 29%; Jarvis 20%).

The images below show Amalfitano's performance in West Brom's 3-0 win over Sunderland at the Hawthorns last year.

The winger completed 2 of his 3 take ons (right), and created three chances for teammates with his crossing (left). On top of this, he also scored a goal and recorded a respectable 82% pass completion rate.

http://epl.squawka.com/west-bromwich-albion-vs-sunderland/

West Ham fans should be well aware of Amalfitano's attacking capabilities, after he put in a key performance against the Hammers in our 1-0 defeat in the Midlands last season.

You can see from the image below that the winger spent a lot of his time pressing forward, penning back George McCartney and causing a general nuisance of himself.

During that game, Amalfitano created a huge 5 chances, setting up the winning goal for Saido Berahino.

http://epl.squawka.com/west-bromwich-albion-vs-west-ham-united/

Weaknesses
Having spoken to a couple of Baggies fans on deadline day, I've been told that the main issue with Amalfitano is that he can be quite wasteful.

Last season, the wideman achieved a pass completion rate of 78% - equal to Matt Jarvis. However, he also lost the ball through lapses in concentration or trying to do too much on a number of occasions.

As you can see in the chart below, this has been a running theme throughout Amalfitano's career, with the winger losing possession through miscontrol (turnover) or through being tackles (dispossessed) an average 4.45 times per 90 minutes over the past five seasons.

Conclusion
The arrival of Amalfitano provides West Ham with something we needed: an attacking winger.

Stewart Downing has been in good form since the tail end of last season, but Matt Jarvis and Ricardo Vaz Te have failed to set the world alight in their time with the club in the Premier League. Adding Amalfitano to the pool of wingers provides another option, and increases competition for places once again.

The wideman brings obvious attacking quality, and is very capable of both scoring and creating goals and chances for others. He may not always look for the easy option, but he provides a bit of excitement and unpredictability, to a sometimes pedestrian West Ham midfield.

This signing signals an end to one of the best transfer windows in memory for West Ham. So let's hope the new introductions can settle into the side quickly, and improve our fortunes on the pitch.

Welcome to West Ham United, Morgan Amalfitano!

New Signing: Alex Song

Alex Song

DOB: 09/09/1987

Age: 26

Position: Midfielder

Previous Club: Barcelona
Previous Division: La Liga

Transfer Date: 30/08/2014

Reported Fee: Loan

Analysis
If there was ever a transfer coup, this was probably it.

Alex Song has spent the 9 seasons playing Champions League football for Arsenal and Barcelona. He was recently touted as a rumoured transfer target for Liverpool, Manchester United and Arsenal. He now plays for West Ham United.

This is a new type of signing for West Ham. In recent years, our transfer policy has been to look at the squad and see what needs replacing and improving. Out with the Matthew Taylor's, George McCartney's and Modibo Maiga's. In with the Cheikhou Kouyaté's, Aaron Cresswell's and Enner Valencia's.

This signing, however, isn't like that. Central midfield is an area that we are well stocked in, and probably our strongest position on paper. This signing is simply taking advantage of the availability of a top class player.

Comparison
As I've mentioned, Song's arrival sees the central midfield area turn into an incredibly competitive area of the side for West Ham. Mark Noble has been in very good form for a few years now, Cheikhou Kouyaté has had a wonderful introduction to Premier League life, and the likes of Mohamed Diamé, Ravel Morrison and Diego Poyet will all feel that they are good enough for first team football with West Ham.

So how do those players measure up to their new colleague?

Well, the two main areas that defensive midfielders in the modern game must be adept in, are ball retention and defensive capability. In terms of keeping the ball, there are few better than Alex Song.

Last season, he completed 92% of his passes, better than any West Ham player, including the new signings. His nearest competitor from last season's data is Kouyaté, who managed a 90% success, whilst the man that Song appears to be replacing, Mo Diamé, achieved just 79% success.

Song's passing success rate is all the more impressive when you consider the number of passes he played. Mark Noble traditionally has most ball for West Ham, and played 50.9 passes per 90 minutes last season. Song played a whopping 67.2.

Obviously the fact that Song was playing in Barcelona's famous tika-taka midfield machine should be considered, but his record shows that he wasn't out of place when he was on the field.

The other area in which Song needs to compete is in his defensive capability.

Last season, the Cameroonian put in more than 5 tackles per game in La Liga, completing 49% of them. This was a figure only bested by recent signing Diego Poyet's record for Charlton Athletic in the Championship.

Strengths
One of Song's main strengths in the holding midfield role, is his awareness and reading of the game. He is very capable of breaking down play and shielding his defence, and has proven this on many occasions.

Last season, one of Song's best defensive performances came away to Real Betis.

During that game, Song gave the perfect performance from a defensive midfield point of view, defending admirably, and providing a platform for his attacking colleagues to go an perform.

On the day, he managed a massive 6 interceptions, and was successful with all of his 8 tackles. He also completed 88% of his passes, allowing his team mates to get forward and secure a 4-1 victory.

The images below show Song's tackles (left) and interceptions (right) from the game.

http://la-liga.squawka.com/real-betis-vs-barcelona/

Another side to Song's game, is his creative passing. Though his team at Barcelona has yielded 0 assists and just 12 chances created, this is more a reflection on his role in the team than his ability.

In his final season for Arsenal, Song was known for his creative vision in place of departed captain Cesc Fabregas, and his pair of delightful chipped through balls for two Robin van Persie volleys will live long in the memory.

And Song was at it again for Cameroon in the World Cup, creating 5 chances in his two appearances. The image below shows the 3 chances that Song created in his side's opening game against Mexico.

http://world-cup-2014.squawka.com/mexico-vs-cameroon/

Weaknesses
Song's main weakness is widely regarded as his concentration.

In the past, he has had a tendency to have a temporary lapse and leave his team in the lurch. This seems to have been somewhat eradicated by his team in Spain, with 0 defensive errors in his 39 La Liga appearances.

However, this reputation has developed for a reason. Looking back at the last 5 seasons, Song has had a habit of losing possession by being a bit over adventurous, or by lacking awareness of his surroundings.

The chart below shows the amount of times Song lost possession via miscontrol (turnovers), was tackled (dispossessed) or had an opponent dribble past him (dribbled by) per 90 minutes.

As you can see, the numbers have declined over time, but it is hard to know whether that is a result of Barcelona's massive possessional dominance or that he has truly stamped silly mistakes from his game.

Conclusion
Alex Song is a player who improves the quality in our side dramatically. His presence in the team will significantly improve our ability to retain possession, and to create from the middle of the park.

His arrival does give us an interesting selection headache, but a good one.

Welcome to West Ham, Alex Song.

New Signing: Diego Poyet

Diego Poyet

DOB: 08/08/1995

Age: 19

Position: Midfielder

Previous Club: Charlton Athletic

Previous Division: SkyBet Championship

Transfer Date: 08/07/2014

Reported Fee: Compensation to be Agreed

Analysis
Like buses these transfers, aren't they?

In a move that seemed to come from nowhere on last Friday afternoon, West Ham have now finalised the signing of 19 year old midfielder Diego Poyet.

The son of Sunderland manager Gus, Poyet broke into the Charlton team in the second half of last season, and has now decided he sees his future away from the Addicks.

As with the signing of Aaron Cresswell, the shocking speed at which the transfer has been completed means a large number of West Ham fans won't know a great deal about a player who has only been on the scene for a matter of months.

Comparison
Since bursting onto the scene with Charlton back in January, Poyet has made 20 appearances for the side in the Championship, racking up a healthy 1,768 minutes of action, and making the defensive midfield spot his own.

In terms of style, I know very little about Poyet, but his stats suggest that he is a similar player to Mark Noble. Both posted identical pass completion rates for the season, both made an average of around 50 passes per game, and both put in a high volume of defensive work for their team.

The images below show the pass completion of Poyet in comparison to some of his new team mates, and a man he will be hoping to replace in Matthew Taylor (stats on Cheikhou Kouyaté are not in depth enough to allow a fair comparison at this point), and also the number of passes completed by each player per 90 minutes.

As you can see, Poyet has a better pass completion rate than both Mohamed Diamé and Matthew Taylor, is equal to Mark Noble, and is slightly behind Ravel Morrison. However, as with Mark Noble, the youngster saw far more of the ball that most of the others, attempting 49.07 passes per 90 minutes - more than double the amount attempted by Diamé.

As previously stated, Poyet also contributes a large amount defensively.

In his 20 league appearances for Charlton last year, Poyet attempted a whopping 117 tackles, winning the ball with 55% of these. This number compares favourably to his comparators.

As you can see below, Poyet put in nearly 6 tackles per 90 minutes. The closest West Ham midfielder to this was Noble, with 4.98 attempted tackles per 90.

Strengths
As with any good defensive midfielder, Poyet's main strengths lay in his defensive work.

As I've already mentioned, the England under 17 international put in a massive 117 tackles last season, winning the ball on 64 occasions.

The image below shows his tackles against Bournemouth back in March. As you can see, Poyet sat in the gap between the defence and midfield breaking up opposition attacks, winning 5 of his 7 attempted tackles.

http://championship.squawka.com/charlton-athletic-vs-bournemouth/

But Poyet is more than just a hard tackler. He is also an intelligent footballer, who is very adept at reading the game.

On top of those tackles he put in, he also made 49 interceptions in his 20 appearances. For a bit of context, Noble managed 70 in 38 appearances in the same position.

Again, the image below shows Poyet's performance against Bournemouth in March. As you can see, he consistently nicked the ball in the same defensive areas that he produced 7 tackles within, and made a total of 6 interceptions on the day.

Weaknesses
Poyet hasn't really been around long enough to get a true flavour of his weaknesses, but it is believed that his main issue is that his concentration levels have been known to drop. In fact, this is the only criticism that SkySports found in a recent player profile.

However, as you can see below, this may not be as big an issue as is suggested.

The youngster made 3.0 errors (defensive error leading to an attempt on goal / a goal, turnovers (miscontrol), dispossessed (tackles), dribbled by) per 90 minutes, which is only slightly more than both Noble and Taylor, but is significantly less than Diamé.

Obviously errors by a defensive midfielder tend to be more costly than those more advanced players, but Poyet doesn't commit too many errors, at given his young age, this is an area in which he will surely improve over time.

Conclusion
The signing of Diego Poyet seems to reiterate the clubs desire to build a more youthful side going into the future. By bringing in low cost youngsters on long term contracts, instead of low cost veterans on short term contracts, the club are building for the future, and giving the fans something to smile about in the close season.

Whether or not Poyet will make a huge mark this season remains to be seen, as he will be competing with the likes of Noble, Diamé and Chiekhou Kouyaté for a starting spot, but the 4 year contract suggests that this is a signing for the future, and not just the now.

West Ham United 2 - 0 Norwich City

11/02/2014

19:45

Boleyn Ground

West Ham United vs Norwich City

Goalscorers:

1-0 James Collins 86'

2-0 Mohamed Diamé 94'

Analysis

Three wins in a row?! Four clean sheets in a row?! This is the stuff dreams are made of! This wasn’t a game I expected us to win. To be fair, this probably wasn’t a game we deserved to win, but win we did.

We were pretty poor overall; records of 70% passing accuracy, and just 51% in the opposition half tell their own story, while the number of very good chances that Norwich managed to carve tell another. But maybe this is where our luck has turned recently. A month ago we would’ve crumbled and capitulated. Yesterday, we fought to the end and managed a bit of a smash and grab, in all honesty.

So we played pretty badly, but managed a couple of moments of real impact. In many ways, our performance was epitomised by the returning Mohamed Diamé.

The Senegalese midfielder did almost nothing after coming off the bench last night. For the first 20 minutes after coming on, Diamé attempted two passes (50% success), two crosses (0% success) and two shots (50% on target). He was hardly involved, and didn’t look interested.

In the final 10 minutes, he attempted 3 more passes (66% success), successfully took on Robert Snodgrass, produced the assist for James Collins’ opening, and wrapped up the points in added time with a goal of his own. Basically, he was the match winner.

His heat map below shows how little involvement Diamé had in the game, despite being the man who almost singlehandedly won it for us.

http://epl.squawka.com/west-ham-united-vs-norwich-city/

The other man to thank for the points was (yet again) Adrián. The Spaniard has been in inspired form since taking over from Jussi Jääskeläinen, producing a series of goalkeeping master-classes.

This, his fourth clean sheet on the spin (the first time we’ve managed that in the Premier League, I believe), was once again littered with some wonderful saves, and some extremely confident goalkeeping. Not only did the number thirteen produce 6 saves of real high quality, but he also managed to successfully claim 7 Norwich balls into the box – and he only punched it once.

The image below shows the saves Adrián had to make.

Relegation battle? Pssshhh, we’re in the top half now.

Andy who?

General Play

4-2-3-1 Formation 4-2-3-1

(92) Adrián - John Ruddy (-15)

(41) Guy Demel - Russell Martin (-17)

(95) James Collins - Joseph Yobo (16)

(82) James Tomkins - Sebastien Bassong (13)

(53) George McCartney - Martin Olsson (-10)

(63) Mark Noble - Alexander Tettey (36)

(33) Matthew Taylor - Bradley Johnson (-9)

(3) Matt Jarvis - Robert Snodgrass (6)

(-13) Kevin Nolan - Leroy Fer (-26)

(1) Stewart Downing - Nathan Redmond (7)

(-2) Carlton Cole - Gary Hooper (32)

(-10) Marco Borriello - Johan Elmander (-10)

(38) Mohamed Diamé - Anthony Pilington (-6)

(-13) Antonio Nocerino - Ricky van Wolfswinkel (2)

Best Performance

(95) James Collins - Alexander Tettey (36)

Worst Performance

(-13) Kevin Nolan - Leroy Fer (-26)

48% Possession 52%

313 Passes Attempted 350

George McCartney 46 Most Attempted 47 Alexander Tettey

70% Passing Accuracy 73%

51% In Opp. Half 66%

Stewart Downing 88% Best Accuracy (min. 15 passes) 87% Alexander Tettey

73 Long Balls 69

James Collins 16 Most Long Balls (excl. GK) 9 Bradley Johnson

Most Frequent Pass Combination

McCartney to Taylor 12 - 11 Olsson to Fer

9 Aerial Duels Won 11

45% Success 55%

James Tomkins 4 Most Won 4 Sebastien Bassong

George McCartney 80 Most Touches 72 Robert Snodgrass

Offensive Play

12 Attempts on Goal 13

7 On Target 6

4 Off Target 4

1 Blocked 3

42% From Outside the Box 46%

Mohamed Diamé 3 Most Shots 3 Gary Hooper

10 Key Passes 9

Mark Noble 3 Most Key Passes 3 Gary Hooper

27 Crosses 22

Stewart Downing 12 Most Attempted 9 Robert Snodgrass

5 Successful Crosses 5

19% Success 23%

Stewart Downing 3 Most Successful 1 Robert Snodgrass

11 Take Ons Attempted 10

4 Successful Take Ons 2

36% Success 20%

Marco Borriello 2 Most Take Ons 2 Gary Hooper

Defensive Play

23 Tackles Attempted 29

18 Successful Tackles 13

78% Success 45%

Matthew Taylor 5 Most Tackles 4 Joseph Yobo

62 Clearances 65

James Collins 14 Most Clearances 13 Sebastien Bassong

4 Interceptions 7

James Tomkins 2 Most Clearances 3 Robert Snodgrass

3 Shot Blocks 1

Matthew Taylor 2 Most Shot Blocks 1 Sebastien Bassong

Discipline

12 Fouls 16

Guy Demel 3 Most Fouls 4 Robert Snodgrass

1 Yellow Cards 3

West Ham United:  Antonio Nocerino

Norwich City:  Martin Olsson,  Bradley Johnson,  Anthony Pilkington

0 Red Cards 0

West Ham United:

Norwich City:

Head to Heads

Adrián vs John Ruddy

0 Goals Conceded 2

6 Saves 5

7 Claims 1

7 Successful Claims 1

100% Success 100%

32 Total Distribution 38

13 Accurate 13

41% Success 34%

11 Goal Kicks 10

5 Accurate 3

45% Success 30%

2 Throw Outs 3

2 Accurate 3

100% Success 100%

3 Kick from Hand 5

0 Accurate 1

0% Success 20%

16 Other 20

6 Accurate 6

38% Success 30%

0 Errors Leading to Shot 0

0 Errors Leading to Goal 1

James Collins 5 Most Passed To 4 Leroy Fer

James Tomkins 4 Most Passes From 4 Martin Olsson

James Collins vs Sebastien Bassong

4 Aerial Duels 12

1 Duels Won 5

25% Success 42%

2 Tackles Attempted 1

2 Tackles Completed 1

100% Success 100%

14 Clearances 22

1 Interceptions 2

0 Blocks 0

0 6yrd Blocks 0

0 Errors Leading to Shot 0

0 Errors Leading to Goal 0

33 Passes Attempted 11

22 Successful 5

67% Success 45%

0 Crosses Attempted 0

0 Successful 0

0% Success 0%

1 Chances Created 0

1 Attempts on Goal 1

1 On Target 0

1 Goals 0

Mark Noble 4 Most Passed To 6 Bradley Johnson

Guy Demel 6 Most Passes From 7 Joseph Yobo

Mark Noble vs Alexander Tettey

34 Passes Attempted 46

32 Successful 40

94% Success 87%

3 Key Passes 1

1 Assists 0

2 Attempts on Goal 3

1 On Target 1

0 Goals 0

1 Take Ons Attempted 0

1 Take Ons Successful 0

100% Success 0%

5 Tackles Attempted 3

5 Tackles Completed 1

100% Success 33%

1 Clearances 6

1 Interceptions 0

1 Blocks 0

0 6yrd Blocks 0

0 Errors Leading to Shot 0

0 Errors Leading to Goal 0

George McCartney 6 Most Passed To 7 Leroy Fer

George McCartney 5 Most Passes From 9 Russelll Martin

Marco Borriello vs Gary Hooper

1 Attempts on Goal 3

0 On Target 3

0 Goals 0

1 Key Passes 3

0 Assists 0

5 Passes Attempted 20

2 Successful 17

40% Success 85%

0 Take Ons 0

0 Sucecssful Take Ons 0

0% Success 0%

3 Aerial Duels 1

0 Duels Won 1

0% Success 100%

Mark Noble 1 Most Passed To 4 Bradley Johnson

James Collins 2 Most Passes From 5 Bradley Johnson