This is the second instalment of player previews in the run-up to the new Premier League season. Today we look at last season’s Hammer Of The Year, Aaron Cresswell.
What he did well last season
Its far easier to list what didn’t he do well last season as Cresswell became one of our best players of the campaign, hardly putting a foot wrong. He arrived at West Ham for a reported fee of £3.75 million from Ipswich Town last summer and made the left back position his own as he went on to play every minute of every game last season – one of only 3 outfield players in the Premier League to do so. His consistency at left back alone is a key reason why he shone last season. Following failures such as Joey O’Brien, George McCartney and Pablo Armero, who all have been hopeless at left back in comparison in recent years, it is a great pleasure for West Ham to have a consistent full back in the form of Aaron Cresswell.
It is not just consistency that won the hearts of nearly all, if not every, Hammers fan last season. Cresswell is a sublime defender and came up with many last ditch tackles as he made an average of six defensive actions per match with an overall total of 241 defensive actions in the whole season. His awareness in defence was fantastic and he was rarely caught out at the back, making only three defensive errors all season. Aaron Cresswell is not only a fantastic defender as he also comes into his own in the final third. One of the reasons for West Ham’s success last season was the attacking threat of both full backs, Cresswell and Carl Jenkinson.
Cresswell’s crossing ability is second to none at West Ham and with players with brilliant heading ability such as Andy Carroll and Diafra Sakho on the pitch last season it was a vital part of West Ham’s play. Cresswell created 34 chances with four of those being converted into assists for him; he also grabbed two goals of his own, including a excellent free kick against Stoke City. Cresswell’s impact on the team and consistency throughout the season won him Hammer Of The Year and Player’s Player Of The Year at the end of season awards. He was the first left back to win Hammer Of The Year since Sébastien Schemmel in 2002.
What he can improve on
This is going to be a short section as Aaron Cresswell performed superbly throughout all of the last campaign. If there was area he could perhaps work on it would be his strength however it appears he has worked on this during the last few months. Cresswell came from the championship and early on struggled a little with the physicality of the Premier League with one moment standing out against Stoke away in November as he attempted to shield the ball out of play and lost out to Jon Walters who muscled past him as Stoke went on to score from that mistake. However this is being very picky against our player of the year who had very little trouble adapting to Premier League life.
What can we expect from Aaron Cresswell next season?
More of the same from Cresswell, is what we’re all hoping for! Cresswell was an absolute bargain buy last summer and pledged his future to West Ham by signing a new five year deal last week. He is now worth far greater than his purchase price and he can really push on to become the best left back in the league. Said with a slight amount of bias, Cresswell is genuinely one of England’s best left-backs with only Leighton Baines ahead of him and he could easily earn himself an England call-up next season, if Roy Hodgson were to see sense.
Cresswell is very under-appreciated in the Premier League, so if he wants to get noticed he needs to come up with a couple more spectacular free kicks and brilliant assists and I think we can certainly expect this from him. As mentioned in a previous article by fellow writer Rob Mullis, the arrival of West Ham legend Julian Dicks as part of the coaching set-up will really help Cresswell become one of the best. If he stays injury free, I think we can expect another stellar season from Aaron Cresswell and hopefully he can follow in the footsteps of Julian Dicks, who was a four time winner of Hammer Of The Year.
