Missing Irons-Does It Matter?

Hammers go into Sunday's vital game against Wolves devoid of several players, most notably Angelo Ogbonna who is out for the rest of the season and Vladimir Coufal who has just had a successful operation to fix his troublesome groin injury.

Some media outlets have suggested that the club are without several other 'stars', namely Authur Masuaku who has been sidelined yet again with knee issues and Ryan Fredericks who somehow managed to injure his groin during the 45 woeful minutes he played against Newcastle.

Hammers have also given Andriy Yarmolenko 'compassionate leave', as he struggles to deal with seeing his homeland invaded by the Mad Monk. A decent gesture of solidarity by the club, but in actuality hardly a great sacrifice as Yarmo has been no more than a bit part player for the last couple of seasons.

So to say David Moyes will be missing Fredericks, Masuaku and Yarmolenko is technically correct, however NONE of them, with perhaps the exception of Authur Masuaku on a good day, are a great miss. Indeed some would say that they are ALL liabilities who just occupy spaces on the bench that could and should be taken up by members of the U-23 and Academy teams.

The presence of Fredericks, Masuaku and Yarmolenko on the bench hardly strikes fear into the opposition does it? At least youngsters like Ashby, Chesters, Perkins and Okoflex are fresh, full of energy and more importantly unknown to opposing teams.

The aforementioned are ALL capable of making the step up, however and perhaps unfairly there those who will be overjoyed with the absence of Yarmolenko on the bench. The player just seems to represent the past and is hardly inspiring when he lumbers on and strolls around for what ever amount of minutes he has been given at the end of games.

Yes Moyes IS without the services of some highly paid individuals, but does the team really miss them? LN