Sheffield United have a team selection conundrum to solve for Saturday’s visit to Blackburn Rovers. The obvious change at Ewood Park is replacing the suspended Anel Ahmedhodzic with Jack Robinson, but there’s a change at the top of the pitch which in my opinion should happen.
With Gustavo Hamer suspended last Saturday for the victory over Stoke City, the Blades were without their brightest attacking spark. Nonetheless, we saw the likes of Tyrese Campbell and Jesurun Rak-Sakyi step up in his absence, with Kieffer Moore also getting on the scoresheet for the second time this season.
Should Sheffield United drop Callum O’Hare?
Callum O’Hare has been on the receiving end of criticism lately, and I totally understand why. Before the season started I explained what O’Hare would bring to the team: he isn’t an attacking midfielder that possesses finesse or power, he is more of a floater that’s there to create an overload out wide or to offer a simple passing option in the pocket. We have seen him drift wide as well as receiving the ball in the pocket, however, he is not having an impact on the game because he isn’t being positive enough. And I think this is the result of poor form.
The former Coventry City man is not a bad player at Championship level, even though it may look like that now. Personally, I would be inclined to give Gustavo Hamer a go in the roaming number ten role, whilst keeping Campbell in the side alongside Moore.
In the opening few weeks of the campaign, I wrote about the importance of O’Hare to the team because of his energy and his ability to create a 4-4-2 for the press from the central attacking midfield position. This is why he was central over Hamer, who was pushed out to an unnatural inverted left-winger role. That being said, if you’re going to have Moore and Campbell as your front line, the role of O’Hare for the press is pointless because you already have a two-man leading press.
O’Hare is performing extremely poorly in terms of progressiveness and creativity in his play. According to FBref, compared to Championship attacking midfielders and wingers in the past 12 months, O’Hare is performing below average in shot-creating actions, he ranks in the 36th percentile for progressive carries, and 25th percentile for successful take-ons. Additionally, he is performing slightly above average in key passes per game, ranking in the 55th percentile.
Compare his actual numbers this season to Hamer, Hamer has the edge in shot-creating actions (3.9) versus O’Hare’s 2.4. They are equal in terms of progressive carries with two per 90. The Dutchman has the edge in successful take-ons, averaging 0.9 per 90, as opposed to O’Hare, who is averaging 0.5 per 90. Hamer also has a slight edge in key passes with a difference of 0.1 separating them. There is no point in listing shots and assists performance metrics because Hamer is far superior to him in all those categories.
My summary
My final point is, if Hamer can produce better numbers than him from an unnatural position then why not move him into a preferred role whilst O’Hare is severely out of form?
A lot of people, including myself, have come away from several games saying: “Hamer hasn’t played that well, but yet he’s managed to score or assist”.
Hamer being bang average, in an unnatural position (which is why he isn’t performing great), is producing better numbers than O’Hare in his best functioning role.