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Top 5 players West Ham must upgrade for Champions League football

By Rucker Haringey

LONDON, ENGLAND - MARCH 19: Andy Carroll (2nd L) of West Ham United celebrates scoring his team's second goal with his team mates during the Barclays Premier League match between Chelsea and West Ham United at Stamford Bridge on March 19, 2016 in London, United Kingdom. (Photo by Paul Gilham/Getty Images)
LONDON, ENGLAND - MARCH 19: Andy Carroll (2nd L) of West Ham United celebrates scoring his team's second goal with his team mates during the Barclays Premier League match between Chelsea and West Ham United at Stamford Bridge on March 19, 2016 in London, United Kingdom. (Photo by Paul Gilham/Getty Images) /
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LONDON, ENGLAND – MARCH 19 : Aaron Cresswell of West Ham United during the Barclays Premier League match between Chelsea and West Ham United at Stamford Bridge on March 19, 2016 in London, England. (Photo by Catherine Ivill – AMA/Getty Images)
LONDON, ENGLAND – MARCH 19 : Aaron Cresswell of West Ham United during the Barclays Premier League match between Chelsea and West Ham United at Stamford Bridge on March 19, 2016 in London, England. (Photo by Catherine Ivill – AMA/Getty Images) /

2. Aaron Cresswell

The English left-back has started 29 Premier League matches for Bilic this season, but his performance has been average at best. The Hammers need to find someone who can defend much better than Cresswell to cope with Champions League attackers.

In all fairness, Cresswell does a nice job getting forward and adding some punch to the West Ham attack. He’s just so physically weak on the other end of the pitch that it makes his overall contribution to the team below average. His Whoscored.com player rating average of 6.77 is one of the lowest of the starters for that exact reason.

Again, the club doesn’t need to get rid of Cresswell entirely. They just need to reduce his role before next season. He’s a man who can easily be deployed against mid-tier Premier League competition and below. He just shouldn’t be the first-choice against really good opposition. They need someone with more defensive aptitude to fill that position.

It can be tricky to find a good Premier League left-back, but West Ham need to try if they want to be serious Champions League participants. High-quality opposition would feast against Aaron Cresswell in those matches.

Next: 1. Diafra Sakho

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