Patience has paid off for Pablo Fornals.
His early excursions for the Hammers were met with a chorus of discontent from many fans but since lockdown he has become Pellegrini’s best signing and is now one of the first names on the team sheet.
His energy and ability to create chances has become deeply impressive and his industry and determination are often a sight to behold.
At £25 million he didn’t come cheap and for a long time it looked as though he would join the various other under achievers in Pellegrini’s pack.
An assist and goal against Leicester plus an all round performance of some distinction is making the young Spaniard a Hammers favourite and I may have been unfair in giving him a seven plus in after match ratings.
An 8 would have been closer to the reality looking at it in retrospect – he had a very fine game indeed.
Discussing the fine win over Leicester at https://www.whufc.com/news/articles/2020/october/05-october/pablo-fornals-defensive-solidity-gave-us-platform-win he said: “We are playing good football and having a lot of chances to score. When we defend well, we are also a great team on the attack – that’s why we won today.
“We knew before that they are an unbelievable team because they were near the top of the table, so we needed to score and be compact and try not to concede any goals. I’m very happy for our defence as well.
“I think when all of us have the desire to run, to be compact, to keep in shape, we are a great team. We have players who are good on and off the pitch, and good players outside of the squad.
“When we’re all playing well, it’s difficult to be in the starting eleven. It’s a good way to improve all of us.”
Pic courtesy of www.whufc.com
Fornals’ goal was the No18’s second in two starts against Leicester City in the Premier League, and he could not hide his delight at having netted against the Foxes.
“It was a great assist from Cressy,” he recalled. “He tried to get rid of the ball in a difficult zone, and I saw what he was going to do.
“I just tried to run, tried to control the ball. I’m happy because the control was very good and, after it, I tried to get a shot on target.
“It’s what I’m training every day, trying to shoot on target every time. I’m very happy that, this time, it didn’t touch the post – it went just inside!
“That’s why I work every day – not just me, all the team, and I’m very happy to have some good games on the road.”
The Irons have enjoyed two standout results – 4-0 and 3-0 wins over Wolves and Leicester respectively – in the last week, but now face a fortnight’s gap until their next fixture.
When they do return from the international break to take on Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday 18 October, Fornals is hoping West Ham can pick up where they left off.
“If I could choose, I would say there would be no international break!” he laughed.
“I think every Hammer would want to play again in three days’ time, because we are playing unbelievably and we want to keep the good vibes up.”
He scored a great goal yesterday and he’s improving without doubt. Imagine if the owners had given in to all the pressure from the armchair manager fans who were insisting he be sold. The majority of new signings take at least one season to get into the PL way of playing. Drogba was a legend at Chelskiburg but he struggled in his first season and I imagine some fans were wetting their jock straps as to how poor he looked. Second season came and he kicked butt. Happens with so many players – patience and time to build is what we need. We had this when the owners took over…that hasn’t happened in terms of so many errors that would most likely cause sakings in the private sector. Fornals will get better the more his confidence grows. COYI…
I’ve lost count if the amount of times he’s hit the post since playing for us. Very unlucky I thought. I think anyone who knows anything about football would appreciate his endeavour and recognise that he is only a kid with plenty of room for improvement. I think he can only improve over the next few years. He has huge potential and let’s face it he’s not bad as it is. I think it’s only a matter of time until his performances get him in the senior Spain team at which point teams like Real Madrid and Barcelona will be in for him. We should make the most of him while weve got him.