Many of us will tell you that the reason we have not been able to get another striker is that nobody wants to warm the bench for Andy Carroll. They ‘ll say that this was the case with Bony and Lukaku. And to a certain extent,this is true.
But the real issue is something else. It is the limitations on the way we play with Kevin Nolan in the side that is the real issue. Yes , Nolan makes a solid contribution and scores goals , as against Cardiff in the season opener. But it comes at a price.Because of his lack of pace, we cannot play 4-4-2 with Nolan in the side. Hence the difficulty in attracting another striker. With Nolan unable to drop back into a traditional midfield role ,it really limits the opportunities that any new striker could have at West Ham.
But somehow , before this window shuts, we MUST find another striker, as any long term injury to Carroll could see us dragged into a relegation scrap. Yes, Maiga played well against Cardiff, and already looks much improved over last season. But that was against weak opposition.
How will Maiga fair against sides in the top half of the table? With Carroll set to miss the first three matches , I would be very surprised if he plays in even 30 matches this season given his susceptibility to injury. Is there a solution? There are no easy answers, but we must find a solution in the next two weeks.
The obvious answer is to sell one or two players in order to free up space in the wage cap to bring in another striker. But that is easier said than done. Who could we sell that anyone would really want?
There may be clubs in the Championship or bottom six of the Premier League who would take an ageing Matt Taylor. But I can’t see there being a long list of suitors. Jack Collison could attract interest, but is questionable whether he would pass a medical. Not to mention that it would be a shame to lose a good product of our Academy.
What about Ricardo Vaz Te? I think that we could live without him, especially now that we have Downing although again, I’m not sure how many Premier League sides would have an interest in him.
Which brings us back to Maiga himself. Perhaps a promising prospect,if given time. But we are at a crucial stage of the season. The opening fixtures are winnable, but after Southampton they become much harder. So we need to pick up points early, with or without Carroll.
Could Maiga be either loaned out, or sold, perhaps back to France? He may be the best choice in terms of selling a player to make room under the wage cap for a better striker. It’s a tough call, as he looked very good on the ball against Cardiff –but will he be able to hold the ball up against tougher opponents?
Andy Carroll and Stewart Downing are undoubtedly excellent signings. But we’d better hope that under the new fair play wage rules that we have not left ourselves dangerously short of cover up front.
We had a real problem with this in 2003 when Freddie Kanoute and Paolo Di Canio were injured for long periods of time and we had only a young Defoe as a recognized striker. We cannot afford to leave ourselves exposed like that again,no matter how good the rest of the squad is.
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