Insider ExWHUemployee has revealed that West Ham United players are “frustrated” behind the scenes amid Alphonse Areola’s cryptic Instagram message.
What’s the latest on Alphonse Areola and WHUFC?
The French goalkeeper recently took to Instagram (via football.london) to say: “People like to be around those who give off positive energy…” followed by a cloud emoji.
On top of that, Manuel Lanzini’s wife also sent a message online to David Moyes about playing her husband. So it’s clear to see not everyone is content right now.
While talking about it all on The West Ham Way podcast, Ex revealed that he can’t be certain for sure what Areola was referring to but he did confirm that some players are “frustrated” within the club.
He said: “Areola’s come out today and said you should surround yourself with positive people, which seems like it’s a dig at the club and possibly David Moyes.
“I don’t have evidence either way. All I do know is that a few players have been frustrated at the negative attitude and the negative reaction to things.
“So maybe, speculating, that is where he was talking about. I don’t know factually. Obviously, Lanzini’s wife came out on Instagram last night posting hers and his frustrations at him not playing online. So there are people that are frustrated.”
What does this player frustration mean for West Ham?
Seeing as the Irons lost this weekend away at Tottenham Hotspur – meaning they now sit inside the bottom three – it’s not hard to see why players are unhappy.
For the likes of Areola and Lanzini, this may be particularly frustrating as they haven’t had the chance to shine much in the Premier League this season.
For instance, the goalkeeper has played second fiddle to Lukasz Fabianski featuring just twice in the top flight this term. On top of that, Lanzini has managed just 122 minutes in the league, spread across five outings and so the pair may understandably be hoping for more opportunities with the club struggling.
It’s never easy to keep an entire squad happy and internal frustration isn’t necessarily a unique thing to West Ham right now but with things not going their way, Moyes does have to be careful things don’t spiral out of control.
It’ll be interesting to see what, if anything, he does to try and resolve these issues.