Debutant’s Crunching First Showing

Amongst all the late drama at Craven Cottage yesterday with Danny Ings coming off the bench to score, West Ham’s Head Coach Lopetegui introduced another summer signing after 70 minutes who almost achieved a feat only Tomas Repka in 2001 and Jeroen ‘Yosser’ Boere in 1993 have managed: That of getting sent off on their West Ham United Debut.

‘Almost’.

Carlos Soler arrived at West Ham with a huge fanfare and massive expectations on deadline day, having been chased by Tim Steidten for weeks leading up to the dramatic move co-ordinated with the exit on loan of midfielder James Ward-Prowse to Nottingham Forest. We were expecting Soler to be a loan-to-buy transaction but have subsequently found he is just on a season-long loan with no purchase option: In any case his £240,000 a week will make him unaffordable at London stadium.

He almost created a piece of Hammers history in the brief 20 minutes plus stoppage time that he spent on the  pitch. After 12 minutes he received a yellow card for a challenge on Cairney and for complaining about the decision. Having watched it, I think he can have no complaints at all. The Premier League can be faster than most other leagues and Soler was clearly struggling to get up to speed.

Just ten minutes later and his second late, clumsy challenge had me watching through my fingers waiting for the referee to brandish a second yellow: If anything this second was more deserving of a card! Somehow, for some reason, Referee Tim Robinson hesitated and seemingly gave the Spaniard the benefit of the doubt and just awarded a foul. How that would influence the match: If Soler had seen red then West Ham most certainly couldn’t have thrown hero Ings on for Alvarez in those last minutes.

Games revolve around small margins. West Ham fans have learned that, far from an ‘artistic’ Payet 2.0, they appear to have a no-nonsense midfielder now wearing the number 4 shirt: The jury is still out regarding his ability as a playmaker but as a reinforcement to stop teams playing through the middle of the park, Soler has already show he is not afraid of a tackle.

If he can get up to speed and stay out of the ‘yellow’ then we will all breathe a little easier in future. That notoriety of being sent off on debut was only narrowly avoided. Next time, Carlos, please wow us with your creativity.