Reece Oxford made his West Ham debut yesterday afternoon against Arsenal at the tender age of just 16 becoming the 7th youngest Premier League player ever. He played in a deep, holding midfield role and performed brilliantly, slotting into the side as if he’d made many appearances before. This raised the question of whether we actually need to sign Alex Song?
Song, 27, was on loan at West Ham last season and was hugely successful for the first part of the season. His creativity in midfield provided the catalyst for West Ham’s early form in last season’s campaign. However, Song’s form dropped dramatically during the second half of the season and so did West Ham’s.
He has since returned to his parent club, Barcelona, but there have been numerous rumours that Song would like to return to West Ham. The deal looked set to be completed as well until he picked up an ankle injury that will keep him out until mid-September. West Ham are still interested in acquiring Song, however, do we really need him after Reece Oxford’s convincing performance yesterday?
Oxford was superb against Arsenal playing with confidence in one of the most important areas of the pitch. West Ham played a 4-4-2 diamond formation with Oxford playing as the deepest of the midfielders, with his main job being to protect the back four.
This was the position that Alex Song mainly played in last season, at the base of the diamond. Song’s job wasn’t primarily to protect the back four but Oxford did far better than Alex Song ever did in the protection of the defence as he made some vital blocks, tackles and interceptions.
Oxford’s natural position is supposedly central defence and this could be the reason for his excellent defensive display however Oxford was not only good at defending he also helped to keep the team ticking over in midfield just as Song did last season for West ham. Reece Oxford had a pass completion rate of 95% in the match against Arsenal and lost possession only once.
I can recall Alex Song losing possession in his own half many times when he had laboured on the ball too long. Oxford played simple but did it confidently and quickly ensuring that West Ham kept possession and moved up the pitch which is exactly what any team would be looking for in any defensive midfielder.
One area that would be sorely missed if West ham were to not sign Alex Song would be his incredible ability to pick out a pass and create chances, especially from a deep position. Oxford can’t match this creativity at the current point in time but show glimpses of his potential to set up attacks, for example, when he pick-pocketed Mesut Ozil of the ball and passed it to Diafra Sakho which instigated an attack.
One reason we could afford to not have Alex Song in the team yesterday was the presence of Dimitri Payet who also shone on his debut creating many chances and assisting the first goal. Oxford’s presence in the team meant Mark Noble was also able to be another source of creativity on the pitch against Arsenal yesterday.
With Song at the base of the diamond last season, Noble was forced to cover for Song in defensive situations whereas yesterday Noble was able to trust Oxford with defensive duties and this allowed him to perform much more effectively in controlling the midfield.
So should we sign Song or not? Obviously he would be a welcome addition to the squad due to the quality he brings, however, his wages are very high and how are we to know that his ankle injury won’t keep him out longer than expected, we have enough troublesome injury prone players already.
The priority has to be to sign a striker first and with the emergence of Reece Oxford, I believe we are covered in the midfield with Pedro Obiang and Diego Poyet waiting in the wings. Even Kevin Nolan, who came on yesterday and was solid, being able to do a job. Dimitri Payet and Manuel Lanzini can provide the creativity that Song brought to the team last season.
Had Oxford not emerged as a fantastic talent I would say sign Alex Song as fast as you can no matter what the injury is but now I think we should opt out of signing Alex Song and trust in the current midfielders.
