TL/DR: Roshane makes the case for Summerville with Bowen upfront.
Tomas Soucek has fulfilled many roles but Julen Lopetegui’s decision to start him as the No 10 against Fulham caused some confusion.
If West Ham United fans were perplexed, who knows what summer signing Crysencio Summerville thought as his wait for a first Premier League start goes on.
The Soucek experiment lasted until half-time and his ineffective performance in such an unfamiliar role highlighted the need for Summerville’s integration into the starting XI.
Summerville, who joined from Leeds United for £25million ($32m), was brought on at the interval against Fulham. He has shown glimpses of his talent during substitute cameos against Aston Villa and Manchester City and came close to scoring in his first full start in the Carabao Cup win against Bournemouth. He has mainly operated on the left flank and has shown that he warrants a starting berth in Premier League matches.
Soucek started in place of Lucas Paqueta, who was dropped, but the switch in personnel did not work. West Ham lacked creativity and failed to pose a threat. Lopetegui has mainly played a 4-2-3-1 formation but his team have struggled in the final third.
The sample size of data is small, but they have only scored six goals in their first five games, four fewer than this stage last term. According to Opta, West Ham have created just four ‘big chances’ in their opening four Premier League games, the second-lowest tally in the division. Bringing Summerville into the starting XI could help them create more goalscoring opportunities and lessen their reliance on Mohammed Kudus and Jarrod Bowen.
“I’m an exciting player to watch, the sort of player fans will want to come and see,” Summerville told West Ham’s website on his arrival. He also told West Ham’s YouTube channel: “My target is many goals and many assists. I hope I score a lot in these colours. I want to help my team-mates fight for Europe again.”
After the 3-1 home win over Leeds at the London Stadium in May 2023, Summerville told people close to him that he could see himself playing for West Ham one day.
West Ham have a successful track record of signing players from the Championship, with Michail Antonio, Aaron Cresswell and Bowen joining from second-tier clubs.
Tim Steidten, the technical director, challenged Summerville to become a success like Kudus and Edson Alvarez when he was courting his signing in the summer. There was excitement surrounding his summer arrival from Leeds, given his potential. After registering 19 goals in 43 league appearances, the 22-year-old was crowned the PFA’s Championship Player of the Year for 2023-24.
Luis Guilherme arrived from Brazilian side Palmeiras for £24.5m in June but West Ham remained interested in signing another forward. Vitoria Guimaraes’ Jota Silva, who has since moved to Nottingham Forest, was among their targets but Steidten and Lopetegui prioritised Summerville because of his Premier League experience.
Said Benrahma was one signing from the Championship who did not work out and his departure for Lyon in June left West Ham short of attacking options in wide areas. Benrahma only showed flashes of the excellent dribbling ability that persuaded West Ham to sign him from Brentford in 2020, but Summerville’s desire to take on defenders will excite fans.
Looking at last season’s numbers, Summerville (200) attempted twice as many dribbles as Bowen (97) and nearly as many as Kudus (216). It is a similar story for dribbles completed (101), total take-ons (217) and successful take-ons (101).
Antonio has struggled to justify his place as Lopetegui’s first-choice striker and Summerville could be the key to unlock West Ham’s attack. Summerville and Kudus look well set to operate on the flanks, with Paqueta as a No 10 behind Bowen up front.
Last season, Bowen showed he can be a dependable goalscorer, having equalled Paolo Di Canio’s West Ham record for the most goals scored in a Premier League season (16). Paqueta can thrive in the right system, having provided three assists in the win against Wolves in December, while Summerville and Kudus’s pace will help them unlock the opposition defence.
“Summerville has had minutes and he will have more minutes,” said Lopetegui before the game against Fulham. “We are happy with him and he’s working really hard. He’ll give us good moments but he has to be ready. We have a long season ahead, a marathon, and he’ll be involved in a lot of our matches.”
Another key attribute is Summerville’s ability to link up with his team-mates. He provided 10 assists last season, with three coming in Leeds’s 4-3 victory against Middlesbrough in April. Last season, Summerville, who amassed 37 caps from under-16s level to under-21s with the Netherlands, was third (30) for fouls won in the final third in the Championship last season, behind Georginio Rutter (36) and Jack Clarke (37). Summerville was also fifth (77) for fouls won.
Last campaign, West Ham’s Kudus was the third-most fouled player (75) in the Premier League behind Jordan Ayew (94) and Bruno Guimaraes (108). Bowen won 32 fouls in the top flight last season.
Summerville’s best years are ahead of him. He has impressed in his cameo appearances but it is time for him to be unleashed by Lopetegui.
by Nome3000
2 Comments
Good peice from Roshane again. There’s certainly a case for Summerville and he’s not the only one making it. As with some of the comments, I’m not entirety convinced by Bowen up front, but if we tweak what he’d be doing compared to Fullkrug and Antonio, on paper it would seem to be effective.
It could be worth persevering with a Bowen conversion long term, particularly with a more expansive style under Jlo. It would appear to suit the 3 forwards behind him.
This early in the season, we still haven’t seen a lot of Fullkrug and I’m hopeful he could be very potent.
I love Soucek. I’d start him most of the time. But he should not play as a 10. Moyes did that near the end and Lopetegui is doing it. It doesn’t work. I do understand what they are looking for but it’s baffling.
Summerville has played few minutes and that’s Kudus who plays on the left. That’s weird too. The season will be long and Summerville will likely have playtime but it’s a bit puzzling