West Ham Should Plug Bowen’s Defensive Leakiness [Opinion]

Despite being a productive mainstay in David Moyes’ plans, the West Ham boss should be concerned by one aspect of Jarrod Bowen’s game that fails to meet the standards set in Moyes’ tactical set-up.

The high-flying Hammers have every right to feel proud of their accomplishments thus far, but Bowen should be looking to step up his defensive work rate if Moyes is to plug gaps when his side is defending from the front.

According to data from Wyscout [via Football Insider], just three other players in Europe’s top-five leagues have enabled the opposition to make more forward passes than Bowen.

The data is of course just one miniscule aspect of Bowen’s overall game, though this black hole defensively flies in the face of Moyes’ tactical nous that has seen the Irons become a disciplined and hard-working unit.

Analysis has shown that Moyes’ preferred 4-2-3-1 system places an immense emphasis on being compact, defending from the front and maintaining a poise and shape that enables strong defensive awareness and the springboard for fluid counter-attacks.

For Bowen to allow players to glide past him with such routineness in order to spray balls down the flanks and towards the midfield is to undermine this foundation that Moyes is building with West Ham.

It is hardly a crime for Bowen to allow this to happen, and nor should he be considered the only differential for the emergence of this startling statistic. However, areas like this could be one area Moyes may wish to focus on if he is to tweak and optimise his tactical set-up.

If the Hammers are to continue their startling run to the apex of the Premier League in a hunt for European football, this aspect of Bowen’s game remains a leak in severe need of plugging.