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Ray Stewart: ‘If ‘Fab’ had played we wouldn’t have lost”

 

ClaretandHugh’s top exclusive blogger Hammers legend Ray ‘Tonka Stewart gives his verdict on the performance at the Etihad

 

The Irons were exceptional this afternoon – nobody could have asked for mew, I was proud of them and like Vlad Coufal, who was obviously totally gutted at the end, I reckon we should have had more.

From front to back we were magnificent at times and I felt for Issa Diop at the end missing a chance which looked all set to be buried.

Had he done so, justice would have been done because we deserved a draw from that game against the best team in Britain.

Today we were always gonna find out how good West ham United are and we did …they are very very good – a team I believe that is on its way into Europe.

Declan Rice had an absolutely awesome game and I have made a point of telling that boy that if he stays with this club he can become as big a legend as Mooro or Bonzo.

I don’t believe – had Fabianski been playing – we would have lost because I’m sure he would have been out and caught De Bruyne’s cross.

Randolph did well to carry on after his injury but I’m convinced that but for that, we would have got the draw.

We have now played the very best team around and shown ourselves to be not that far behind – our future looks superb

Tonka was talking to Hugh Southon

 

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

5 comments on “Ray Stewart: ‘If ‘Fab’ had played we wouldn’t have lost”

  1. Absolutely agree.Though wont blame Randolph. Maybe with Fabs but who knows. From what I saw today having played the best team in europe never mind England if they believe in themselves and continue in this manner 2nd yes I said 2nd is reachable. And you know what it wouldn’t surprise me.

    • Absolutely agree.Though wont blame Randolph. Maybe with Fabs but who knows. From what I saw today having played the best team in europe never mind England if they believe in themselves and continue in this manner 2nd yes I said 2nd is reachable. And you know what it wouldn’t surprise me.

  2. Great read Ray, have to agree with all of that, they created two real chances and scored from them, we were that good to limit the best team imho in World Football to do few chances despite having 70% of the ball shows Moyes is a great tactician and the whole club is Utd, based on Guardiola’s comments am worried that he may now see Dec as viable replacement for Fernandinho which could be bad news for us in the summer. Am also proud and was unlucky for Diop he got out of position for their first goal but was otherwise immense and it would have been nice if like Stones he had made amends for that with an equaliser or assist at the death. Now we have another good indicator coming against Leeds who are a really capable team so hopefully we can get back on track and building momentum again COYI!!!

  3. Can’t blame Darren for this. Diop was politely queueing when cross came over. Unfortunately he could see that others were in a better position to head the ball and so made no attempt to stop them scoring. Rather than Randolph not coming to pluck the ball from the sky, it would seem that Diop could have made more effort to make a nuisance of himself instead of watching. Can’t ‘blame’ Diop either. No point in finding a culprit. Let’s just move on – learning as we go. At least we learnt that we don’t have to pass back to the keeper to clear the ball (also known as passing the buck). Maybe in future we might continue this trend.
    COYI

  4. Great comments Ray. Darren has always been a bit vulnerable to crosses as in his previous stint with us – particularly when needed to come out 6 yards and meet them. However, as Taffy pointed out, we were a bit lightweight and static in the middle (for once!) especially with De Bruynne on the ball. But I don’t want to blame, only praise our team. Proud of you Irons!

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