When West Ham United signed Felipe Anderson from Lazio for £42m, it was seen as the marque signing of a new reign as the hammers looked set to shred off their midtable identity and instead wanted to challenge for the top six spots.
But after almost one-and-a-half season, it seems the real Felipe Anderson is yet to arrive, as is West Ham’s challenge for the top-six spots, And it may well not be a coincident. While Anderson had a decent first season at the London Stadium stats wise, scoring 10 goals and 5 five assist in 40 matches, but he has failed to have an impact that you expect from a club’s marksman.
Come the 2019-20 season, Felipre Anderson has failed to improve, infact he has arguably regressed instead. He’s again not been too bad statistically, racking 3 assists in 9 matches. But it’s his presence on the field which has continued to frustrate his admirers, he’s continuously getting into promising situations but instead of taking advantage of such a situation using his sheer pace and skills, he has instead failed to show the courage to take on his man and has majorly choosen to play the ball back to a midfielder or to an overlapping full back.
Though on a positive side, He has improved his defensive work rate vastly when compared to last season. Also, there have been cries for Manuel Pellegrini to use him centrally, behind Sebastian Haller as a second forward as he’s believed to be most effective in that position.
Though for all the tweaks that you might suggest to bring the best of Felipe Anderson, everyone knows he’s good enough to have far more impact even in the current scenario.
If West Ham United wants to challenge the big boys, they really need their Simba Star to come good for them, sooner than later.
