(Photo by Arfa Griffiths/West Ham United via Getty Images)
Manuel Pellegrini held what was probably his most interesting presser since becoming boss at Rush Green this afternoon.
He covered everything from tomorrow’s game, to his view on Declan Rice and man of the moment Grady Diangana and where he goes from here.
The official site at www.whufc.com recorded his Diangana quotes and here’s what the boss had to say about the lad who has taken the Hammers faithful by storm.
Asked if had been impressed the boss said: “I don’t know if the word is ‘impressed’ because I always see his work here at the training ground on a daily basis, but what is important for young players such as Grady is that he has the personality from the first day to do exactly the things he does here every day.
He did it and, in every game, the same as Declan, he is improving a little bit more.
Now, for all the young players you have the second step, which is the most important thing.
At the beginning everybody sees everything you do because you are a young player, but after that he must grow another step, not make too many mistakes and continue to improve in every game he plays.”
CandH view
You have to hand it to the Pelle because he usually nails these issues easily quickly and with great intelligence, the reason being of course that he has been there a million times before as a manager.
He was careful not to elaborate on the ‘second step’ in order, I reckon, not to put Grady under too much pressure at a delicate time in his development. Spelling out what the expression meant may have planted the idea in the young man’s head that he needs to do it immediately.
That’s the way to make mistakes and put yourself under the cosh. guess it’s fair to say that we may be talking about CONSISTENCY.
The fact remains however, that the Academy has uncovered a truly gifted and precocious talent. His assist towards a goal in the Burnley match and the fact that he’s had two stone cold pens via his trickery turned down speaks volumes.
And the boss was on the money by saying enough but not too much as, of course, we have come to expect
