ANDn Spain there is two people who know this West Ham better than anyone. One is Manuel Pellegrini, current Betis coach and former West Ham coach (2018-20); the other is Mario Husillos, sports director of the club at that stage of the Chilean coach.
The former Argentine player dissects us, from Malaga, where he lives and worked several times, to a WH that he knows by heart, because, in part, he built it. “The team idea -he tells us- is very different from ours, although some players coincide with ours”.
Mario is clear about what kind of team Sevilla will find today: “This West Ham is a very physical team. By height, strength, kilometers traveled… He is one of the most physical in the Premier. Only the pivots, Rice and Soucek, are above 1.90. Fornals and Lanzini are technicians, but they are among those who run the most. It is a team with a lot of order and they play very close together. They are very good at set pieces, with great shooters, like Cresswell or Fornals, and great finishers, like center back Dawson, Rice or Michail Antonio himself, who a few years ago was the one who scored the most headed goals in the Premier Lerague.
for spindlesthe best thing about this team is clearly the double pivot, already reviewed: “He is an impressive double pivot, one of the best in the Premier. Rice is, for me, the best midfielder in England: complete, powerful, strong, impassable, he runs well and a lot… and on top of that, when he starts, you can’t turn him around. His partner, Soucek, never misses the ball, touches easy and has a terrible presence in both areas. He’s undetectable, maybe no presence in the construction of play, but a tremendous player too. I think, going back to Rice, who this summer is going to pay him more than 100 million. He is an exceptional boy, who, when we arrived, had already debuted and Pellegrini gave him a lot of confidence as a pivot, because before he also played center back. And, at 23 years, he is captain of the team…”.
Lastly, H.Usillos analyzes his star forward, the English-Jamaican Michail Antonio: “It’s dangerous if you let him run. He’s a guy without excessive technique, who doesn’t ask for big ductile things, but with meters he’s a ‘beast’. If Bowen comes out, he’s also interesting. Behind them, they usually play two of the Lanzini-Fornals-Benrahma trio. The three have touch, play and magic”.
for Mario, Sevilla’s solution it would be trying to attack running: “They kill you with their power, but if Sevilla can run, they must have more ‘chances’. It will be difficult. They are a very tough rival”.
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