Sam Allardyce handed ojut special praise to Cheik Kouyate who produced an outstanding display as the irons came within two minutes of beating Manchester United.
The manager said: “Cheik Koutaye was a well-deserved man of the match – not only for the quality of his goal, but his overall performance at centre-half against [Robin] Van Persie, Falcao, [Wayne] Rooney and [Angel] Di Maria,” Allardyce said.
“Everybody played well and I couldn’t ask for any more. It’s just disappointing for them that they haven’t won the game.”
The Hammers boss added: “We have to give the players credit for how well they defended as well as how well they played in possession, which was almost the perfect performance.
“It’s a fantastic performance. Not a result we deserved or wanted, but we’re back to a level that we know we can play at.
“It was just a great shame we conceded a goal as late as we did, which wasn’t the normal goal you concede against Man United.
“A punt up the middle, it was actually our player [Carl Jenkinson] that headed it, so it wasn’t any great play at all.
“It’s a great shame we didn’t hold out, but I just feel Man United have David de Gea to thank for keeping them in the game for that long, with the amount of saves he had to make.”
And while some fans enjoy trying to ridicule everything sam says I can see that once again he is spot in in his assessment of the game and his praise of the key player. He sometimes criticises a player if they make a mistake that leads to a goal from the opposition as he does here by taking a subtle swipe at jenkinsons inadvertent pass to blind for their goal. He sometimes critiscises strikers if they miss open goal opportunities at the other end. But this is like a parent admonishing a child when he does it. Critiscism is king in this game. It is how you learn. Because the player will be trying even harder to please his manager and not make the same mistake again. And when they do get the praise it is all the more worthwhile and they know they’ve really earned it.