West Ham United fans thought their club made the best signing of the season when Javier Hernandez (Chicharito) was signed for £16m from Bayer Leverkusen in the summer having been without a prolific goalscorer with the likes of Andy Carroll, Diafra Sako and Dede Ayew all blowing hot and cold over the years yet based on empirical evidence the Mexican has flopped in East London.
While it is shocking to admit that the highest Mexican goalscorer (international) has not been at his best with West Ham sitting 16th in the league same point with 18th placed Everton, Slaven Bilic must take the blame for not getting the best out of the Mexican. Having scored 39 goals in 76 games for Bayer Leverkusen in two years as well as netting 59 goals in 157 games for Manchester United despite playing more then half of those games as a substitute, Chicharito is as good as the services provided to me by his team mates. This means that the striker feeds on creativity from team mates as his awareness (predatory instincts and ability to find the back of the net inside the penalty box are his best attributes. In East London, the Mexican has been starved of the ball so often with his team mates unable to create chances as stats show the Hammers have created only five clear cut chances this season which is one of the worst in the league which is only better than the likes of Huddersfield, Brighton Bournemouth , 65 chances in total which ranks 12th in the league as well which shows why the striker has suffered. This is not all as West Ham have also covered the least distance and fewest springs in the Premier League this season.
Despite the five clear cut chances created by his teammates, the Mexican has converted three outscoring 20 to 30 West Ham strikers that came before him a stats that shows the scatter gun recruitment approach of the club in the transfer market. To buttress further, Chicharito has had no shot on target in the last three games yet scoring 40 of his Premier League goals inside the box which is the reason he has struggled in East London with the multi-talented chief creator Argentine Manuel Lanzini unable to play most games for the Hammers this season . Further stats show that West Ham have had the second fewest touches in the opposition box (101 touches with Swansea 95) which shows why it has been difficult for the Manchester United crowd favourite to shine. Paired with Andy Carrol in a 4-4-2 formation in two league games, the Mexico International has been abysmal as he plays from the left instead of his favourite central position with the 1-0 win against Swansea achieved after he was hooked off as Diafra Sahko came in for him to score the winner. At present the striker has an average only 1.8 shots per game which is his career worst considering his 2.6 shots in Bayer, 3.1 in Real Madrid and 4.2 shots per game in United.
Having seen Dede Ayew score a double in the 3-2 win against Spurs (League Cup), under fire manager Slaven Bilic might be tempted to pair the Ghanian with Chicharito hence leaving out Carrol on the bench in their weekend game against a struggling Everton side who sacked manager Ronald Koeman on Monday or keep him on the bench to come on as an impact substitute while continuing to pair Carrol and Ayew together as the Englishman has an excellent hold up play as well an aerial presence while Ayew can play from the wings as well as create chances for teammates at the same time giving Chicharito the time and training required to gel with his teammates as well as coming on later in the game to run tired defenders hazard.
Slaven Bilic is clearly under pressure but having seen his side come from two goals down to beat Spurs on Wednesday, one will be making a massive mistake to right them off this season also considering the new form of Manuel Lanzini who has thrived since the exit of Dmitri Payet.
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