David Moyes may need to reconsider his plans to deploy Mohammed Kudus as an attacking midfielder (number 10) at West Ham. The high-profile signing from Ajax has been gradually introduced to the team, occupying various positions in the attacking midfield and forward areas in his eight appearances so far.
It’s uncertain where Moyes intends to utilize Kudus once he becomes a regular starter, but positioning him centrally just behind the striker doesn’t seem to be a wise choice. This is especially apparent when we look at his performance in Ghana’s 2-0 friendly loss to Mexico at the Bank of America Stadium in North Carolina in the early hours of Sunday, October 15.
Kudus played the full 90 minutes, but Ghana didn’t manage to register a single shot on target, marking Chris Hughton’s first defeat as the Black Stars manager. Notably, Kudus had only 17 touches of the ball in the first half, a fact labeled as ‘criminal’ by the 3Sports Ghana reporter Owuraku Ampofo on Twitter.
Throughout the match, Kudus had just 36 touches, was dispossessed four times (the most in the game), and completed only two of his eight dribbles. He attempted only nine passes during the entire game, highlighting his exclusion from the contest, ironically by his club-mate Edson Alvarez, who started in Mexico’s midfield.
Moyes cannot afford for the 23-year-old to be ineffective in this crucial position, which serves as the link between players like Alvarez and James Ward-Prowse and the forward, typically Michail Antonio.
Moyes is likely to continue with a gradual approach for Kudus, and it might be that he’s utilized on the right flank, with Jarrod Bowen moving into a central forward role, once he’s fully integrated into the team.
Regardless, one can only hope that Kudus’ performance against Mexico was an isolated occurrence. In other West Ham news, Fabrizio Romano has provided details about West Ham’s reported interest in Manchester United defender Harry Maguire.”