After reading what seems like hundreds of ‘news’ stories titled ‘West Ham fans react…’ I can’t help but feel exhausted by the countless know-it-alls (mostly on social media) who seem offended that David Moyes ignores their instruction when it comes to team selection.
Manuel Lanzini is the new figure of hate as selected by the vocal masses.
It’s true that Lanzini hasn’t been playing well since the first few weeks of the season and I agree with many others who suggest Pablo Fornals deserves to be starting games ahead of him. However Moyes clearly rates him highly and has identified him as the player that can have the biggest impact on the team using the system he wishes to play and somehow Moyes has to try and get the Argentine happy and confident for the difficult relegation fight we have ahead.
So it was disappointing last night to hear a section of the West Ham supporters cheer as Lanzini was substituted. It probably came from the same section that took great enjoyment taking the piss out of Roberto. Quite how these people believe their actions will help Lanzini find his form is beyond me. They probably don’t think that far ahead.
There seems to be few characters in the modern game who react well to negativity and I don’t believe Lanzini is one of them. Moyes will probably continue to pick him going forward, in fact he commented after the match that Lanzini was arguably our most important player, and he still could be. However, If I were Lanzini, I’m not sure that being ridiculed by my own support would motivate me to want to play any better.
Of course we all have opinions and no doubt social media plays a massive role in amplifying the negativity. That can’t be stopped unfortunately, but singling out players on the pitch has no positive merit in my opinion and perhaps some fans need to accept that professional managers have just as much right to an opinion as we do. Given that they work with the players every day, perhaps they are the best people to judge who best fits their system.
Otherwise what’s the point in having a manager? We may as well choose the team by having a fan poll.