Former Sheffield United and Manchester City midfielder Michael Brown has been impressed with the transformation made by West Ham defender Aaron Cresswell this season.
Brown was speaking to Football insider when he claimed that Cresswell has adapted well to his new role, a role the 30-year-old himself is enjoying as he proclaimed in a recent interview.
The 43-year-old ex-Man City midfielder said: “He’s (Moyes) been looking for that improvement defensively, he’s tried it, he’s tried some other things and I think he obviously feels this is the best way to go. So, we can’t argue with the results.”
Cresswell has played every minute in the league this term as part of a new-look formation on the left side of three centre-backs, and Brown believes it will have taken plenty of getting used to, saying: “He’s balanced, isn’t he? It all depends how much pressure you come under, what teams he’s playing against.
“It won’t come easy to him, I don’t think. I think it’s the work on the training ground that’s going to take time and when you get a few results, I think everyone believes in it.”
Brown also reserved praise for Cresswell’s desire to adapt, saying: “It’s hard to go, sometimes, to that back five and your players don’t always want to do it, that is just not being used to it.”
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Cresswell has certainly been coming in for plenty of praise in recent times for his switch to an auxiliary central defender after previously spending his entire career as a rampaging full-back.
The Liverpool-born defender deserves all the plaudits and more – having come under fire at times in recent months, he and his teammates have adapted well to the new system, which has helped the Irons to make a reasonable start to the 2020/21 campaign given the difficulty of the fixture list.
The move inside has also freed up Arthur Masukau, who has always had question marks over his defensive prowess, and now the DR Congo international is rarely the last line of defence on the left.
With Issa Diop and Craig Dawson both nearing a return to full fitness, there is scope for Cresswell to return to a more familiar role, although Moyes may yet stick to his guns given how well the tweak has worked so far.
