Darren Bent has publicly criticised Ryan Fredericks, questioning the West Ham United right-back’s defensive ability following the crushing 5-0 defeat to Manchester City last weekend.
The recently-retired striker has 276 Premier League appearances to his name and has exclusively told Football Insider that he’s unsure Fredericks has what it takes to play in the top-flight.
Fredericks: I’m not so sure about. He had that stint at Fulham and when he got that move from Fulham it was a bit of an eye-raiser, a bit of a shocker, going: ‘Oh wow, they’ve signed him,’ because they’ve obviously seen something in him. Defensively on his side, defensively not the strongest.
Read West Ham verdict
Let’s put the weekend behind us; you’re not going to come up against some of the most dangerous forwards in Europe every time you step foot on the field.
Fredericks only has 16 Premier League appearances to his name, and with Pablo Zabaleta as his only back-up, we’re very likely to see him culminate more than that throughout this season alone.
He’s shown signs of pure class – take last season’s win at one of Bent’s former clubs Tottenham Hotspur as an example – so Hammers fans must simply show patience with him and I’m confident performances will follow.
