By Hughie Southon
The biggest thing we learned last night was that Flynn Downes looks one heck of a midfielder.
From start to finish he didn’t put a foot wrong and his defence splitting pass for Gianluca Scamacca late in the first half deserved a goal such was its quality.
Sadly the Italian – returning after illness – failed to convert as he did on a couple of other occasions during what was clearly a difficult first 45 minutes.
But back to the former Swansea player and huge Hammers fan who was thrilled to have been signed.
He kept it simple throughout and I didn’t see him waste a single ball whilst defending brilliantly from midfield during a performance of rich promise.
He allowed Declan to get forward on one or two occasions and linked beautifully with the attacking midfielders.
The Premier League may be a different matter but should Tomas Soucek be unavailable for the Newcastle game – should it go ahead given HM the Queen’s death – this lad looks more than ready.
Davkd Moyes says he will need time to adjust – it certainly didn’t look that way last night.
Exciting times ahead it seems!
Man of the match for me. Also reports of Antonio’s demise are a bit previous as his arrival got us the win!
It was indeed a very good debut by Downes and up there in my eyes for man of the match. The quality of his performance actually surprised me. However for me he is too similar to Rice and if we are going to attack teams aggressively (and I doubt we will under Moyes) we cannot play with 2 DM’s, we need to bring in a number 8, a player who can move the ball quickly and get us moving. The good news is that type of player we have and his name if Fornals. It has to be outside the top 6 a midfield two of Rice and Fornals with Cornet/Benrahma/Paqueta/Bowen behind Antonio/Scamacca. Just to finish off Downes certainly proved last night he could be that holding player to give Rice breaks throughout the season. I feel for Coventry but based on last nights perforamnce Downes is way ahead of him. I really hope Coventry can go out on loan for his own sake.
I was a critic of Downes. I didn’t think he had the strength and ability for the Premier League. When I saw him play for Swansea I saw way to many short, backwards and sideways passing. That is just not enough for the Premier League. You have to play on the half turn more and move things forward at a faster pace, and make things happen. But good luck to the lad. He took his opportunity with both hands and didn’t put a foot wrong. If he carries on like that, he will have a bright future in the Premier League. I would just love it, if he proves me wrong, and he has already gone a long way, to do just that. 10/10