Has Zouma And Aguerd’s Time RAN OUT – A Look At West Ham’s Struggling Defenders
How did Zouma ever wind up captain when he can’t even defend the final third! And how does Nayef Aguerd even justify being in a starting eleven? Moyes has some answering to do!
West Ham are a club that isn’t unfamiliar to players having hiccups in their performances with the likes of James Ward-Prowse (being known for his hotshot Free-Kick) now missing a majority of chances that are made for him and fellow midfielder Kalvin Phillips, being a fabled star boy for England international duty to playing as if the Premier League is a Sunday league! But one thing is shocking many things alike; how have Nayef Aguerd and Kurt Zouma’s performances dropped so heavily in the past 12 months?
It’s not a surprise that West Ham United fans are upset with how the overall team has been performing lately; moreso though a majority of fans seems to be questioning David Moyes on his selection of Kurt Zouma and Nayef Aguerd – both players who have been performing absolutely shockingly in this 2023/2024 season (whether that’s in the Premier League, UEFA Europa League or the FA and Carabao Cup; the performances have been disgraceful of a club of such a high stature!)
All of this hate comes after a shocking 2-2 draw with bottom of the league Brentford who currently find themselves in the 15th position as of writing this article, if you’d like to read more about West Ham’s lucky escape from a loss then please press HERE to read Taysan’s article and look at the match.
It’s quite hard to understand where exactly this poor form of late has appeared from, some believe it may be due to the fact that West Ham United had an extremely hard season as fans had extremely high expectations of the club after previously winning the UEFA Conference League and now re-entering the UEFA Europa League (Where the club had appeared before and was on course to win before Frankfurt had stomped out their hopes) – this meant West Ham had an extremely hard time with their match schedule after trying their hardest in the FA Cup, Carabao Cup, UEFA Europa League Group Stages and the Premier League. Although I don’t personally agree with this excuse of a match pile up effecting the mindsets of Kurt Zouma and Nayef Aguerd as plenty of other West Ham players haven’t seemingly slumped as these two have, Mavropanos (A recent signing by the hammers) has had a rough time with getting off to a running start alongside Alvarez and Kudus but these players (alongside regulars Jarrod Bowen, James Ward-Prowse and Lucas Paqueta) haven’t had any issues what so ever! So is there really a good excuse for the final third’s defence being so leaky this season?
An Analysis Of Kurt Zouma:
Kurt Zouma is currently 29 years old as of writing and has currently resided at the East London club for the past two years and five months, he primarily plays as West Ham’s centre-back. Zouma has started a total of 26 games and has managed to score 3 goals out of them; all of his games equal totally to 2,269 minutes played for the club; despite this Zouma has only had 3 clean sheets. Some of you reading this may praise this as an average result for a centre-back but I would beg to differ when you come to learn that Zouma has allowed 39 goals past him and into the back of the net – even being responsible for a penalty being given away! Out of 13 tackles he’s had this season he has only managed to win 9 of those along with 113 clearances. Once again – these stats might sound good for a player of Zouma’s age and background but I still believe that something has most certainly changed this season as last season Zouma had 7 clean sheets, 29 goals conceded, 9 tackles (4 won), 118 clearances and no penalties given away.
Considering this was also the time period where West Ham was performing incredibly in Europe – it makes zero sense at all that his performances have suddenly dropped when moving up to the next level of European football – putting West Ham at risk of dropping out of European football again due to his lack of defensive awareness!
An Analysis Of Nayef Aguerd:
Nayef Aguerd is currently (and undisputedly) one of West Ham’s most unliked players; known for faking injuries and illnesses to have an excuse to not play for the club before flying away on International duty! Rather scandalous of him to do so – It’s shocking David Moyes still puts him in starting line ups as I am sure no one is exactly happy to see him appear onto the pitch at the start of the 90 minutes.
Although that is fairly typical from Nayef as the past two season at the hammers has been lackluster to say the least. His 2023/2024 season has saw Aguerd keep less clean sheets than Zouma (2), MORE goals conceeded than Zouma (a whopping 42!) and out of 23 tackles he has only won 12 and has only managed a Weasley 77 clearances! Just like Zouma he even conceded a penalty spot kick!
If you think things would can’t get possibly worse; oh yes they can, whilst the last season may of seen Aguerd have 5 clean sheets, 28 goals conceeded and 27 tackles with 18 won – he still managed to have 2 errors which lead to goals and still managed to give penalties away; this does not include the faking of sicknesses and injuries just so he could avoid playing! Aguerd has only managed to appear 20 times this season and has a singular goal to his name.
Will Things Ever Get Better For West Ham’s Defence?
As of things stand, Kurt Zouma seems to be having an off season and in my eyes I do believe he can at least attempt a comeback in the final stages of this 2023/2024 or at the beginning of the 2024/2025 but aside from that – I believe age is now slowly becoming a major part to play whilst Nayef Aguerd on the other hand clearly has no intention on playing for his club and instead his country. I do not personally believe either of these players will have a long future at West Ham (Especially if a new manager takes the helm and sees how they truly play every week!)
It seems like a lot of the responsibility is being pushed upon Mavropanos, Coufal, Cresswell and Ben Johnson to now show up and play for the badge but other half of those players also are notorious for poor performances due to age playing another role again! It seems like West Ham need to begin searching for younger alternative options now rather than later before the dam that is holding this extremely leaking defence – bursts.
One thing is for certain though; the future certainly isnt Kurt Zouma or Nayef Aguerd!
