West Ham are keeping every option open on Simone Zaza’s loan spell and will make no quick decisions on the Italian international.
Zaza – along with the rest of the team produced a good performance at Palace on Saturday – and is showed glimpses of what he is all about.
The 25 year old worked his socks off and was in the face of the defenders thoughout an afternoon when he was playing in the difficult one up role.
He demonstrated that he’d taken the impressive form the manager said he had been showing on the training ground onto the training pitch producing his best performance so far.
And with a fit Andy Carroll and Diafra Sakho on the way back – not to mention Andre Ayew – he will oviously have to step up again and could become a valuable squad addition if the club make a decision to keep him in those circumstances.
At a “buy” price of £20 million after completing 14 games, he looked a much better bet than the near £30 million Christian Benteke who had a dreadful and immobile afternoon.
ClaretandHugh was told by a top source this morning: “There’s a bit to weigh up but he produced a good performance. It was very timely because with the appearances clause in place we needed to see the improvement like NOW!
“Simone can be sent back as has been explained but we have to pay his wages until the end of the season regardless so there’s a bit to weigh up.
” At this moment all options remain very much open and we wll review things in December when a decision will be made which we believe to be in the best interests of West Ham United.”
Hammers make their decision on Zaza, then the first line says theyre keeping all options open, so basically they have made no decision whatsoever. Yet another pointless story.
Why should any decision be made? It’s October!
I watched him very closely and although he was lively and put himself about, there was very little to show for his efforts – I think there was one weak shot into the Goalkeepers arms – he demonstrated his poor control on a couple of other occasions, he’s very left-footed and went on a little run in an attempt to get the ball onto his favoured foot and the chance was gone.
£20 million?? I don’t think so!
What’s the beer like in the Goalkeepers Arms?
Zaza gives new meaning to the term “FALSE NINE” hehehe.
Others may have been impressed by his industry and effort but dont we all see a lot of industry and effort in the Sunday leagues? He’s gotta start giving a bit more quality.
Needs to play as a second striker,still think he’s too slow,you need quick feet or power and pace,he possesses none of these attributes. Cant see where he fits really. COYI
He fits on the subs bench if Sakho or One More For The Road Andy ever come back hehe
I thought he put in a good shift lastnight but still got a helluva lot of stick from some quarters. Unjustly going solely on yesterdays match.
Usually you would say lets see if he adapts with game time but with this bloody structure to the deal we dont have many games to see if he can adapt before having to cough up the reddies.
He contributed well and harried their defenders but he hasn’t scored,Benteke has.
He has played 4 games. Bergkamp didn’t score till his 7th or 8th game. Give the bloke a chance.
If he continues like he did in that game and keeps improving as his match sharpness comes I think he will end up being a top player, Lanzini and Payet are starting to pass the ball to him now and if that continues then I am sure he will come good. Too many are giving him a hard time, I watched the match Saturday and saw a tireless performance, so many selfless runs if you look at his heatmap he was everywhere and also found time to defend. He won a lot of headers 9/14 but crucially in my opinion a lot of those headers and chest downs were into the path of players, I can’t find a stat for how many block tackles he made but there were also a lot of them and he was trying to block the tackle so he could retrieve the ball or block it into the path of others, that is football intelligence something AC doesn’t posess a lot is made of how many headers he wins but 19 times out of 20 we don’t benefit from them because they are aimless and he doesn’t hold onto the ball, Zaza only had a 55% pass success rate but take into account the slippery surface the fact this is the first time he has played in a team who were up for it, he is still learning about his team mates and it will probably take longer still to get genuinely match sharp, he only appeared as a sub most times last season and still scored more or less 1 every two games. I am making a lot of excuses for him but I am genuinely hopeful that he is going to be a big player for us, I think behind Reid his performance was second best on the day, for someone no doubt low on confidence that was an epic performance as indeed it was for most of our players. Kouyate can stay in defence if that is how he is going to perform, if you ask me who I would take take out of Benteke and Zaza it would be Zaza every day of the week when he gets some goals and some real confidence we will be an absolute menace to teams, I am looking forward to seeing him and Sakho play together that would really frighten opposing defenders.
Like!
Give the guy a break i say.
He seems to be adjusting & improving with every match.He just needs a goal or two.I have listened to a few footie shows on tv & radio today & all the pundits said he was starting to get to grips with whats required of him in the premier league.
Ok football pundits aint always on the money but they know a little more than most of us lol
I am happy to admit that I am very pro-Zaza. I’m sure if he continues to play like he did against Palace, the goals will follow. bearing in mind the eventual return of Sakho, Ayew, AC, (plus the enthusiasm of young Ashley Fletcher), we will have a fairly decent attacking squad. Then add in the potential impact of Payet, Lanzini, Antonio, and Cresswell, we should start winning more games; seems like Slav has hit on the right formation (3-5-2) for this present squad.
COYI
Max
Sh!t! Careful, we’ll have a team!
Much better performance in general,got to the ball first in most occasions and won most headers,
But still can’t see those runs that will produce the goals,
He linked up better and not so lazy,
I will leave my final option on weather he fits till the end of November,
I would like to see Calleri get a run now to see who is better but with
Sak on the way back and if Slav can forgive I think he will come straight in and score and make the place his own,
Noble for me is the worry,Obiang should stay and Kouyate
With only one forward I think Fernandez could be a better option because he is more creative and will link better with Lanzini and Payet,