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Ogbonna update and reason for his fury

Tony Gale’s attack on Hammers central defender Angelo Ogbonna looks – as has been the case in the past when the former Hammer has waded in to players and situations – to be out of order.

Gale had spoken out against subbed Oggy when he strode off the field, threw his gloves down, glaring straight ahead, and failing to shake hands with his replacement Issa Diop.

But ClaretandHugh understands the 32 year old  furious with his situation, having just been recalled by his country, for games against Poland and Bosnia and Herzegvina over the next fortnight.

He has made just one appearance in two years for Italy and was upset that he could be ruled out through an injury after overstretching in a challenge..

The player didn’t appear to have done much damage to himself  but there is always a groin danger in such situations and he is desperate to return to the Italian side but will know over the next 48 hours.

It hadn’t been the player’s afternoon despite him performing well again. He received a yellow card after getting involved in an incident with Aleksander Mitrovic and received a yellow.

The  injury  was the “final straw” but he was on the side of the pitch at the end of the match applauding his team-mates on their dramatic finale and victory.

 

About Hugh5outhon1895

Hugh Southon is a lifelong Iron and the founding editor of ClaretandHugh. He is a national newspaper journalist of many years experience and was Bobby Moore's 'ghost' writer during the great man's lifetime. He describes ClaretandHugh as "the Hammers daily newspaper!" Follow on Twitter @hughsouthon

9 comments on “Ogbonna update and reason for his fury

  1. Bad luck for Ogbonna when you consider his dreams being broken . I feel sorry for him .
    But , as to the game , it should have been done and dusted in the first 20 mins . Our failure to score when on top is an ongoing theme that needs sorting . No good saying things like Haller needs better quality crosses . It’s his job to search the ball and use it . He didn’t .
    Not worth the money we paid .
    On the other side of the arguement we have Benrahma who showed his worth instantly .
    We need a striker who knows how to turn an opportunity into a Goal ,,, Haller doesn’t .
    Do we keep on giving him his chance or do we think about selling him ? , won’t get 45million that’s for certain .
    Our defense needs strengthening , yes , that’s a given but , strikers is a definate field of contention . Hoping that January will bring us the striker we need because with Haller as he is playing right now is causing us to lose the advantage . He is just not dynamic enough to warrant his price tag .
    Cresswell was again up for it and had a great game but if we don’t have a striker that wants the ball ??? .

  2. Ogbonna is a class act and everyone can understand his desire to play for Italy.
    The contrast between Mitrovic and Haller was stark. Haller is tightly marked in the box and seems resigned to his lot, Mitrovic is similarly marked, gets angry and mean.
    Haller the gentleman, Mitrovic not so much. Who is the better striker?
    Mitrovic.

  3. I agree with Kevinnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn. Haller is pants. He should not keep being played just because he cost a lot of money. Whatever he cost, we’ve bought a lemon. Don’t play him any more. End of.

    • I would keep faith with Haller. He could do more to search for opportunities and his pressing game needs to improve (an aspect of Antonio’s game that you might remember did not really improve until that golden patch after the restart in the last campaign. I don’t think you can just dismiss the the lack of service. On Saturday it was appalling. Masuaku never put in a decent cross. He is trapped in a mindset of almost always looking to pass the ball backwards and is guilty too often of hanging onto the ball for too long. Bowen did a little more better from the right but Coufal, for all of his marvellous running Andy work, failed to get any decent balls into the centre forward.
      One more remark. We gave Arnautovic a very long time to get over himself at West Ham. He seemed arrogant, lazy, disinterested and unfit. Antonio has not always been on top of his game and I recall him being given a very clear message to get with th eprogram by Moyes soon after he arrived for his first stint with the club. But look at him now.
      Part of the manager’s job is to nurture and motivate players. They have staff to assist in matters of sports psychology. I back the manager to work with Haller to improve himself game and get him back to the player he was when he first arrived – putting himself about, happy, engaged and scoring goals. COYI

      • Motivate the player? I don’t think I’d need too much motivation. Playing a game that I love and getting paid more per week than the average man earns in a year. If I didn’t do my job I didn’t get paid. How can he lack motivation?

  4. Tony Gale good player for us back in the day, but a **** when it comes down to anything to do with West Ham.
    In my opinion as a pundit he is irrelevent… but unfortunately he has a platform to spout his idiotic views. As a former Pro, you would think that he’d temper his views, but I guess it is a hard thing to do when you haven’t got a filter.

  5. Certainly agree with Lance re Haller. The Moysiah has brought about massive change with other players and must feel he can help Haller. At moment no one is going to buy him so its worth persevering!

  6. Not sure why Gale had a go at him, at the end of the day he went off injured and probably straight to see the team doctor to immediately deal with his injury. Getting him back asap is much more useful to the team.

    His anger was completely understandable, especially as he is on great form, but that great form has got him back into the international set up, which he will have been looking forward to. it gives Diop chance to come in and find form, and he might not immediately get back in the side if those 3 are doing a good enough job.

    I’d say Rice probably had his mind on the up coming international too, he had a very average game.

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