With our talisman out, who’s finally going to step up?

The only other viable alternative with the injury to local lad Jay Spearing is the young recruit Jonjo Shelvey. The problem with partnering the latter with the Portuguese is his defensive deficiency that could heap too much pressure on Meireles and alienate the forwards. Anfield should strike fear in opposition players and put the coals under ours; this means imposing ourselves in the final third and not being overrun in the centre and Shelvey arguably  does not currently have the aggressive demeanour or consistency for this.

Jay Spearing’s injury is quite frustrating. He actually has a similar style to Lucas, a harrier who makes himself available and links the defence well, and he’s already put in a few impressive European performances this summer. Unfortunately he doesn’t yet have the range of forward passing that Lucas is beginning to exhibit and that Jonjo Shelvey has demonstrated on occasion. This could simply be symptomatic of first-team  inexperience or the general confidence of the team, however, and it would have been good to give him a run-out against the Hammers.

Risk is hard to avoid at this juncture; first team players are out and the pressure of a club performing way below expectations is palpable. One of Poulsen and Shelvey will be chucked into the deep end and has to put in a good shift. West Ham are languishing at the bottom of the table and the Anfield aura will be accentuated under the floodlights; the ingredients are there to propel a player to a good game and give the manager a selection headache further down the line. It’s time for someone to step up.

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