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: Enner Valencia

Enner Valencia

DOB: 04/11/1989

Age: 24

Position: Forward

Previous Club: CF Pachuca

Previous Division: Liga MX Clausura

Transfer Date: 17/07/2014

Reported Fee: Anywhere from £7.9m to £15m

Analysis
Well, there's your big money move.

In the tradition of the past two summer transfer windows, West Ham United have once against strengthened the squad with a big money signing (Matt Jarvis 2012, Andy Carroll 2013). The difference this time, is that most people hadn't heard of Ecuadorian striker Enner Valencia before his excellent performance for his country in the World Cup.

The rumour mill has been spinning about Valencia for some time now, with the likes of Atletico Madrid, AC Milan and Valencia all linked with him at various point, and by sources of various reliability. Over this time, it has emerged that this isn't a flash in the pan sort of signing based on 3 good performances, but that the Hammers have been tracking their new man over the course of the last six months.

But other than his World Cup cameo, what do West Ham fans know about the newcomer?

Comparison

So what does Valencia offer us that his new teammates don't?

Well, the obvious difference is that Valencia has been in top goalscoring form in the last year. The forward bagged himself 18 goals in 23 league appearances, and a further 3 in 3 at the World Cup. In comparison, Carlton Cole, Andy Carroll, Ricardo Vâz Te and Modibo Maïga managed 11 league goals between them.

Clearly, there is a difference in standard between the Mexican and English premiere divisions, but signing a striker in form can never be a bad thing.

Aside from scoring significantly more goals than his new colleagues, Valencia also attempted far more shots. Andy Carroll was West Ham's most prolific shooter last season, with an attempted 4.21 attempts on goal per 90 minutes, with a shot accuracy of 33%.

Valencia, on the other hand, attempted a whipping 6.27 shots per 90 minutes, with a shooting accuracy of 52%.

An area in which Valencia is less capable than his new team mates is aerially.

Although he did manage to bag himself four headed goals last season, the Ecuadorian managed an aerial duel success rate of just 33%, less than all but Ricardo Vâz Te's effort of 30%. What this suggests, is that Valencia is not a like-for-like competitor with Andy Carroll.

Last season, when the line was led by Modibo Maïga, West Ham failed to adequately adjust our style to incorporate a different type of forward, and served Maïga with the type of long balls and isolation that Carroll is equipped to deal with.

If Valencia is to be a success at West Ham, it seems clear that there must be a varied approach in utilising the new man.

Strengths
Valencia's main strength is what we bought him for: he scores goals.

In the Liga Mexican Clausura last season, Valencia bagged an impressive 18 goals for Pachuca, making him the division's top scorer by a country mile, as his nearest challenger netted just 9 (though he did get those in just 11 appearances).

Perhaps most interesting though, is the fact that 17 of Valencia's 18 goals came from within the box. It seems to be accepted that Valencia will play as one of the wide forwards for his new side, replacing either Stewart Downing or Matt Jarvis in the side. What the two English wingers lacked last season with the killer instinct to get into the box and score goals. Based on Valencia's predatory record, it seems safe to assume that this won't be an issue the Ecuadorian suffers from.

http://www.squawka.com/football-player-rankings

As mentioned above, it has been suggested that Valencia will play as one of the wide pair alongside a centre forward. This is a role he has played on numerous occasions throughout his career - a career in which he actually started out as a winger, only to be converted to a striker within the past few seasons.

The heat map below comes from Pachuca's game against Toluca in January.

During this game, Valencia officially lined up as a right winger, but, as you can plainly see, he popped up all over the park to contribute for his team.

http://liga-mx.squawka.com/pachuca-vs-toluca/

But Valencia can also shine as the main main, leading the line for his club and country regularly.

Arguably his best performance in the last season for Pachuca came in the 3-0 win over Monarcas Morelia, in which he bagged himself two goals and an assist (his only assist of the season).

The images below show his take ons, and then his goals from that game.

As you can see, Valencia is keen to take on his man and get into the box, completed 6 of 9 take ons, 4 of which were attempted within the penalty area, and another four coming just outside the box.

The second image also gives you a flavour of the type of goals Valencia scored throughout the campaign. Getting in and around the six yard box to finish off moves became something of a specialty for the Ecuadorian last season, and will hopefully be something he can bring to a West Ham side lacking in that finishing touch.

http://liga-mx.squawka.com/pachuca-vs-monarcas-morelia/

Weaknesses
Probably Valencia's biggest weakness is his discipline.

Last season, he picked up 7 yellow cards in 23 league appearances. This is a pretty poor record, that is only made worse by the fact that three of those were a result of talking himself into trouble.

For the sort of money that is rumoured to be tabled for Valencia, we could really do without the forward picking up too many suspensions.

Conclusion
I suppose the thing that currently counts most against Valencia, is his lack of experience outside of South America. Any big money move is a risk, but for a player who has never played in Europe, let alone the Premier League, there is a bit of a fear that everything could go belly up.

However, here is an undoubtedly talented footballer, who has all the ability and potential to be a fantastic signing for this football club. And if Valencia can produce even half of his goalscoring record from recent seasons for West Ham, he'll settle in very nicely.

Enner Valencia, welcome to (East) London.

New Signing: Mauro Zárate

Mauro Zárate

DOB: 18/03/1987

Age: 27

Position: Striker

Previous Club: Club Atlético Vélez Sársfield

Previous Division: Argentine Primera División

Transfer Date: 28/05/2014

Reported Fee: Free Transfer

Analysis

As with every new signing West Ham United make these days, Mauro Zárate is dividing opinion amongst supporters before he even steps foot onto the hallowed turf of the Boleyn Ground.

Depending on your point of view, Zárate is either a failure outside of his homeland, or exactly the type of player we need to take us to the mysterious 'next level' for which we always strive, yet never quite reach.

In truth, both schools of thought have an element of truth to them.

Zárate has never been as prolific outside of Argentina as he has been when playing for his first (and last) club Vélez Sársfield. The striker has managed to bag double figures four times in his playing career, but only once in his five seasons in Europe (2008/09 with SS Lazio). Though it should be remembered that goals are harder to come by in the Italian Serie A.

That said, Zárate has been a rather prolific scorer/creator over the past 7 seasons, since he surfaced in Europe after a (very) short spell in the Middle East. The graph below shows his minutes per goal / assist ratio since the 2007/08 season with Birmingham City.

Over that time, Zárate has managed to score or create a goal once every 148 minutes.

There is an old cliche in football that you're only as good as your last game.

If that is true, Zárate can only really be judged on his last season. Although the quality of Argentina's top division is not quite the same as the Premier League, the striker managed a very impressive 20 goals in 35 appearances - at a rate of one goal every 135 minutes.

Compare this to his new West Ham team mates.

Club record signing Andy Carroll managed a goal every 568 minutes last season - more than triple the rate of top scoring striker Carlton Cole (179). As you can see below, Zárate's rate puts him in second place to only Ricardo Vâz Te, though the Portuguese struggled for fitness and minutes, so his figure is warped somewhat.

Unfortunately, no major stats sites collate information on the Argentinian leagues, so an in depth analysis of Zárate will have to wait. But what we do know is that the Argentine scores and creates goals when he's given time on the pitch.

At the very least, this free signing will boost competition at the business end of the pitch. At best, we could have a real talent on our hands.

I guess we wait and see which camp is correct.

Hull City 1 - 0 West Ham United

28/09/2013

15:00

KC Stadium

Hull City vs West Ham United

 Goalscorers: 

1-0 Robbie Brady 12'

  

   Analysis 

Isn't it just typical of West Ham, that our most attacking away display resulted in one of our most disappointing results of the Sam Allardyce era?

Isn't it just typical of West Ham  that for the first time this season, we completely dominated possession, like all the 'purists' tell us we should,  but failed to trouble the scoresheet?

And isn't it just typical of West Ham, that the opposition were awarded an incredibly soft penalty, while we were denied a complete stone waller?

A one nil defeat to newly promoted Hull City was not what we needed following on from our agonisingly late defeat against Everton a week ago. Had decisions gone our way, the day may have been different, but they didn't, and it wasn't.

So why didn't we manage to get that elusive away goal?

Well, Sam Allardyce has already mentioned the fact that we put 36 crosses into the Hull box - 13 of which were accurate, and 6 of which led to a shot on goal. Crossing was clearly the order of the day on Saturday afternoon. What disappointed me then, was our difficulty to get either wide man, Matt Jarvis or Mohamed Diamé involved in the game.

Diamé, our most accurate passer of the ball last season, received 25 passes throughout his 70 minutes, and played just 13 of his own, plus five attempted crosses. For a player as influential as the Senegalese, such a starvation of possession is almost criminal. We all know that Diamé is at his best when driving at the defence, causing panic amongst the opposition backline. He appears wasted and anonymous on the right wing.

But the real disappointment for me was Matt Jarvis. Diamé could be pardoned slightly as he is playing in an unfamiliar position, but Jarvis was just as anonymous on Saturday. He attempted 16 passes, plus 5 crosses, and received just 18 passes. For a player who is widely regarded as the sides main attacking outlet, we are really struggling to get the winger on the ball.

There is, of course, the argument that his teammates should take more of the responsibility for failing to find Jarvis on a more regular basis. Mark Noble, made over 70 passes at the weekend, and found Jarvis just four times. Razvan Rat, playing just behind the winger, found him once. However, this argument is quashed by the introduction of Ricardo Vaz Te.

Vaz Te was only on the pitch for 20 minutes, but in that time he received 14 passes - just four less than Jarvis in less than one third of the time. This suggests that Jarvis' himself is the problem. He is struggling to get involved in games, he isn't taking on defenders enough, and he isn't getting the right level of quality on his final ball.

The images below show passes received by Jarvis and Vaz Te. The thing that stands out most to me, is that Vaz Te was clearly able to link up with Rat far more easily than Jarvis, with a series of passes coming in to him down the left flank, whilst passes to Jarvis seem to come from all over the pitch, and very few are in to the dangerous left wing position that he favours.

Another player who disappointed on Saturday was Kevin Nolan. 

I know that Modibo Maiga isn't perfect, but he has, somewhat unfairly in my eyes, become a the whipping boy for the fans. What a lot of people are failing to take into account though, is the massive lack of support that he receives from his team mates - none more so than Nolan.

Nolan is undoubtedly our best finisher. He's our only goal poacher, and he's also pretty handy on the ball just outside of the opposition's penalty area. When playing with Andy Carroll, Nolan plays in tandem with the striker, never too far away, anticipating his knock downs, and scoring goals as a result.

On Saturday though, it was a completely different story. Nolan was often the deepest of the midfield trio, with the 'holding' midfielders Noble and Morrison offering far more of an attacking threat than the skipper.

The following image shows player influence in the game. The bigger the name, the more involved the player. The fact that Nolan's name is hardly visible tells its own story. So does the fact that his name actually appears on the halfway line under Ravel Morrison. In the first half, he was even deeper, appearing most frequently just in front of Winston Reid.

This begs the question: Is this a tactical move, or is Nolan simply out of form?

It's hard to be positive about such a poor result, but there were a few positives to take away.

Stewart Downing's cameo hopefully means we will see less of Diamé on the wing, and may actually be able to approach our next game with two of our most deadly wide men. Ravel Morrison and Mark Noble are continuing to develop a very promising partnership in midfield, attempting more than 120 passes between them on Saturday.

But the real positive for me, was the inclusion and performance of James Tomkins.

The academy graduate has been forced out of the side in recent months by the good form of James Collins, and has found Premier League opportunities in short supply. His inclusion on Saturday was something of a surprise, but was a welcome sight. Many believe that Tomkins' inclusion over James Collins encourages the side to play a more expansive style of football, and, against Hull, this certainly seemed the case.

Tomkins made over 60 passes on Saturday afternoon - 47 of which found a teammate (77%). But what is striking, is that none of his passes were to Modibo Maiga or Mladen Petric. It has become common for West Ham defenders to try and hit the forward quickly with a long pass. Looking at Tomkins most regular pass combinations (below) shows the different approach.

Aside from his passing game, Tomkins was also very solid defensively. He won 4 out of 5 aerial duels, was successful with 5 out of 5 attempted tackles, made two clearances, and one interception.

The following images show Tomkins passes. Firstly, his combinations (only those players he passes to more than once are shown), and secondly, a map of all his attempted passes from the game.

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

On the whole, a defeat against a newly promoted side really wasn't what we expected to get. Five points from six games always wasn't how this season was meant to start.

The run of Premier League games without a victory has now stretched to 5, and with games against Tottenham Hotspur, Manchester City and Swansea City coming up, the immediate future is looking a little ropy.

Let's hope we can pull something out of the bag next week, because it's fast getting to the stage where we really, really need to do something special.

 General Play 

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

(35) Allan McGregor - Jussi Jääskeläinen (-4)

(16) Liam Rosenior - Joey O'Brien (-1)

(47) Curtis Davies - James Tomkins (35)

(20) Abdoulaye Faye - Winston Reid (2)

(9) Maynor Figueroa - Rǎzvan Raţ (22)

(6) Ahmed Elmohamady - Mark Noble (29)

(11) Tom Huddlestone - Ravel Morrison (-1)

(21) Jake Livermore - Mohamed Diamé (25)

(55) Robbie Brady - Kevin Nolan (-7)

(2) Sone Aluko - Matt Jarvis (1)

(-23) Danny Graham - Modibo Maïga (13)

(-6) David Meyler - Mladen Petrić (0)

(0) George Boyd - Ricardo Vâz Te (12)

(-2) Yannick Sagbo - Stewart Downing (19)

Best Performance

(55) Robbie Brady - James Tomkins (35)

Worst Performance

(-23) Danny Graham - Kevin Nolan (-7)

42% Possession 58%

321 Passes Attempted 468

Tom Huddlestone 48 Most Attempted 76 Mark Noble

71% Passing Accuracy 76%

% In Opp. Half %

Sone Aluko 89% Best Accuracy 100% Stewart Downing

64 Long Balls 57

Tom Huddlestone 10 Most Long Balls (excl. GK) 13 Winston Reid

Most Frequent Pass Combination

Rosenior to Elmohamady 15 - 14 Noble to Tomkins

 8 Aerial Duels Won 17 

 32% Success 68% 

Ahmed Elmohamady 4 Most Won 4 James Tomkins

Tom Huddlestone 64 Most Touches 94 Mark Noble

 Offensive Play 

11 Attempts on Goal 18

4 On Target 6

4 Off Target 7

3 Blocked 5

5 From Outside the Box 7

Robbie Brady 4 Most Shots 4 Modibo Maïga

6 Key Passes 6

Robbie Brady 2 Most Key Passes 3 Rǎzvan Raţ

23 Crosses 36

Robbie Brady 9 Most Attempted 7 Stewart Downing

5 Successful Crosses 13

22% Success 36%

Robbie Brady 3 Most Successful 2 Stewart Downing

 Defensive Play 

18 Tackles Attempted 16

9 Successful Tackles 13

50% Success 81%

Tom Huddlestone 5 Most Tackles 5 James Tomkins

46 Clearances 32

Curtis Davies 12 Most Clearances 8 Winston Reid

6 Interceptions 10

Robbie Brady 1 Most Interceptions 3 Rǎzvan Raţ

5 Shot Blocks 3

Maynor Figueroa 2 Most Shot Blocks 2 James Tomkins

1 6yrd Blocks 2

Robbie Brady 1 Most 6yrd Blocks 1 Stewart Downing

 Discipline 

 11 Fouls 13 

2 Most Fouls 3

1 Yellow Cards 2

Hull City:  Danny Graham   

West Ham United:  Ravel Morrison,  Kevin Nolan  

0 Red Cards 0

Hull City:     

West Ham United:     

 Head to Heads 

Allan McGregor vs Jussi Jääskeläinen

0 Goals Conceded 1

5 Saves 2

0 Crosses Claimed 0

17 Total Passes 6

8 Accurate Passes 2

47% Success 33%

16 Long Balls 4

94% % 67%

2 Throw Outs 6

10 Kick from Hand 0

0 Errors Leading to Shot 0

0 Errors Leading to Goal 0

Yannick Sagbo 4 Most Passed To 2 James Tomkins

Liam Rosenior 4 Most Passes From 3 James Tomkins

Curtis Davies vs James Tomkins

2 Aerial Duels 5

2 Duels Won 4

100% Success 80%

  

4 Tackles Attempted 5

1 Tackles Completed 5

25% Success 100%

  

13 Clearances 2

0 Interceptions 1

1 Blocks 0

0 6yrd Blocks 0

  

0 Errors Leading to Shot 0

0 Errors Leading to Goal 0

  

11 Passes Attempted 61

7 Successful 47

64% Success 77%

  

0 Crosses Attempted 0

0 Successful 0

0% Success 0%

  

0 Chances Created 0

  

2 Attempts on Goal 2

1 On Target 2

0 Goals 0

  

Maynor Figueroa 3 Most Passed To 12 Winston Reid

Tom Huddlestone 1 Most Passes From 14 Mark Noble

Tom Huddlestone vs Mark Noble

48 Passes Attempted 73

35 Successful 65

73% Success 89%

  

0 Key Passes 3

0 Assists 0

  

0 Attempts on Goal 2

0 On Target 0

0 Goals 0

  

5 Tackles Attempted 1

4 Tackles Completed 1

80% Success 100%

  

4 Clearances 3

1 Interceptions 3

0 Blocks 0

0 6yrd Blocks 0

  

0 Errors Leading to Shot 0

0 Errors Leading to Goal 0

  

Liam Rosenior 8 Most Passed To 14 James Tomkins

Maynor Figueroa 8 Most Passes From 13 Joey O'Brien

Danny Graham vs Modibo Maïga

1 Attempts on Goal 4

0 On Target 2

0 Goals 0

  

0 Key Passes 1

0 Assists 0

  

20 Passes Attempted 15

17 Successful 9

85% Success 60%

  

2 Aerial Duels 6

1 Duels Won 1

50% Success 17%

  

Sone Aluko 6 Most Passed To 4 Mohamed Diamé

Ahmed Elmohamady 6 Most Passes From 5 Rǎzvan Raţ

New Signing: Stewart Downing

Stewart Downing

DOB: 22/07/1984

Age: 29

Position: Winger

Previous Club: Liverpool

Previous Division: Premier League

Transfer Date: 13/08/2013

Reported Fee: £6,000,000

Analysis

After what feels like an eternity, West Ham yesterday concluded their fifth transfer of the summer. England winger Stewart Downing has rocked up in East London to join a growing contingent of British players at the Hammers.

He may not be the 'right sided striker' we've all been expecting (promised?), but this is certainly a signing to be happy with. The early indications are that the signing of Downing will draw a mixed reception from Irons supporters. I've seen responses as varied as genuine excitement and a belief that we have signed a top class player, right through to people openly stating they would boo him on Saturday!

Personally, I'm not entirely sure why Downing has received such a mixed reception. Whilst I've always questioned his international credentials, I am a fan of Stewart, and believe that he will fit in perfectly at West Ham.

Something the club seemed to lack last season was a bit of creativity. Of course, we had Matt Jarvis delivering ball after ball into the box, but it felt on occasion that Jarvis was one of the only creative outlets the side had.

Well, looking at stats from the season just gone, Downing completely outstrips Jarvis (and all West Ham's wingers) in terms of chances created. The England winger created a whopping 66 chances last season, bagging five assists, and producing at a rate of one chance created every 33 minutes.

Jarvis created 46 chances at a rate of one every 55.6 minutes, collecting 0 assists. Joe Cole was West Ham's most frequent creator, setting up a goalscoring opportunity once every 42.3 minutes.

Some might point to the fact that Downing spent last season playing in a side that enjoyed far more possession of the ball, and therefore he was always bound to create more chances than West Ham's wingers. Well, whilst that argument may be true, it is probably important to pit Downing's performance against some of his team mates.

Well, Downing created a chance every 33.2 minutes. This is equal to Luis Suarez (33.2 minutes), and betters Steven Gerrard (35.0 minutes), Philippe Coutinho (46.2 minutes) and Raheem Sterling (47.2 minutes).

The following charts show the number of chances created and assists, and then the number of minutes per chance created, compared to West Ham's wingers.

Not only does Downing create a higher frequency than his new team mates, but he also plays in a style that will suit West Ham.

Despite playing in a side that isn't particularly well known for their crossing into the box, Downing whipped a ball into the area once ever 15.7 minutes. Whilst this sits him behind the likes of Jarvis (11.6), Cole (10.7) & Taylor (11.4), it does suggest that Downing's intention when getting on the ball out wide is in a similar vein to his new colleagues.

What is particularly promising about this, is that his success rate is equal to both Jarvis and Cole (28%), and betters both Taylor (25%) and Vaz Te (24%).

Since the appointment of Sam Allardyce an important part of any wide player's role is to help out his fullback. Indeed, even the rather enigmatic Ricardo Vaz Te was involved with some kind of defensive action (successful tackle, clearance, block, interception) once ever 22 minutes last season.

Again, Downing fits seamlessly into this style of play. Downing completed a defensive action once ever 31.3 minutes, better than both Joe Cole (32.1) and Matt Jarvis (39.4).

He also put in a joint high 19 successful tackles, and was second to only Vaz Te when it came to intercepting play.

The chart below shows a breakdown of defensive actions completed by each player last season.

A final area to mention, is versatility. It's often been said that Allardyce likes a player with more than one position. Well, he has begun to create a very versatile pool of wingers, with each of Downing, Cole, Jarvis and Vaz Te capable of playing on both the left and right wing.

Downing's versatility takes him a step further though.

In the Premier and Europa League's last season, Downing made a total of 32 starts. 25 of these (78%) came off the right wing, and 9% (3) from the left wing. While the remaining 13%, however, saw him deputise at left back.

To conclude, I believe West Ham have just made an extremely positive signing. This is most certainly a signing that strengthen's the overall quality of the squad, which, at the end of the day, is what the club needs.

On the whole, the transfer business this summer has been pretty successful. The players who have come in have all improved the quality of the squad, whist we haven't yet lost anybody who weakens us significantly.

All that remains is for me to welcome Stewart Downing to the club. Here's to a successful four years.