In responding to a question about Javier 'Chicharito' Hernandez's deployment in wide areas as against the striker's preferred central position, West Ham United manager David Moyes somewhat shed light on the reason behind Andre Ayew's recent lack of game time.
Currently second from bottom on the table, the Hammers are yet to win any of four league games played under Moyes, who replaced Slaven Bilic last month.
And with Ayew starting only one of those games, life at the London Stadium has certainly been challenging for the deputy Ghana captain under his new coach.
“Going back to when I started, I think the squad was a group of players where we had a lot of centre forwards, a lot of left wingers,” Moyes said on Friday.
“If you going to play three at the back, you can’t really fit in wide players and wingers and if you are going to play 4-3-3, you can only play one striker, so I feel as if there was a group of players who were made for a couple of systems.
“So it has not always been that easy to just do that one job, and you are trying to get your best players in the team, so I can understand why Chicharito has had to play in certain roles because there are other centre forwards like Andy Carroll and Andre Ayew here.
“We have got to try and find a way of getting the best balance. We are still working towards getting to that.”
Reports say West Ham are willing to let go of Ayew, who joined the club on a then club record £20.5 million deal in summer 2016, as Moyes has no guarantees for the 27-year-old by way of game time.
Swansea City, from whom he joined West Ham, West Bromwich Albion and Italian side Inter Milan are said to be interested in the Ghanaian's services.