Passion, patience, poise and PRIDE – that’s our Irons

Match assessment by Hughie Southon

That was as perfect a performance from a West Ham team I have ever seen.

Professional, patient, poised, perseverance, passion and pride – take any P you want in that area of the dictionary and it will all apply equally as well to the squad and manager.

Rarely will we see a team play with such an eye on the West Ham way whilst adding such quality and organisation to a performance. WE OUTCLASSED THE OPPOSITION.

David Moyes made five changes – against all the odds most of us would have imagined – and came up with all the answers one of which has to be permanent I would reckon – Zouma and Diop at the heart of defence.

Diop answered all his critics with a fine performance and Zouma looked a class act on his first appearance in a Hammers shirt.

Everybody is fighting for a place in the first team and poor Manu Lanzini who had battled his heart out  perhaps like never before was then forced to leave the action after escaping a second yellow when not deserving of the first.

Life can be so unfair when you are down on your luck.

Elsewhere Declan scored the best goal of his career and was his usual super self alongside the excellent Tomas Soucek whilst Mikey scared the Croatians to death.

We’ll come to the ratings in a minute but this was a collective performance which earned the team a ten out of ten and Moysie an 11.

We were supposed to be European novices but we looked like a team who had been playing at this level for years …Proud ? You bet we all are.

Come on you MAGNFICENT Irons.