The boss and Sak share a laugh – all’s well that ends well!
Sometimes news seems too good to be true and when you have been around this game a long long time it’s best to check, check and check again when there’s a suspicion that may be the case.
That’s why I have spent a considerable part of my day ensuring that all is as it seems on the Diafra Sakho front and I’m very relieved and happy to declare that most certainly seems to be the case.
Reports last weekend that the striker had a bust-up with another player on the training ground and stormed out have been circulating for too long to be ignored.
And even former player Tony Gale during a commentary on the Watford match last night laughed when being told he had returned from injury: “Oh from injury is it? There may have been a bit more to it than that because we now Slaven stands for absolutely no nonsense.”
It’s fairly widely accepted that something went off after training when Sakho was told he wasn’t in the team for Arsenal – later an injury emerged and once a week had passed the player came out declaring peace and goodwill in all directions.
This s all very much par for the course and can sometimes be entirely dismissed as the club covering things with some cosmetic window dressing room leaving plenty of room for cynicism.
Not this time however, because after checking with our top source who has given us some of the best stories we’ve run ClaretandHugh is happy to announce: Sak and West Ham are hand in glove again!
We were told as categorically as we have been told anything: “Everything has been settled at all points – there are no problems at all.
“He made a difference last night – worked really hard. His body language was good and he and the manager are absolutely fine.
“He’s a West Ham player and will remain so -he is incredibly important to the team and the style of football we want to play. It’s all sorted.”
All we need now is for Sakho to be playing through the middle like he should be – and Carroll coming on after 65 minutes to stir things up if needed!
Well stated Michael!
Sakho, when fit, is definitely our top striker; he is the best fit for our fast attacking, quick, short passing game, and I consider hi capable of scoring 15-20 goals/season. he also plays very well with Enner Valencia; they set up a great partnership in the first half of our last season. While Andy Carroll has shown signs of improvement, the question of game to game consistency is still an issue. Obviously, Slav has a very strong belief in Andy, and it will be of interest to see who he starts with in our final 5 EPL games; Andy? Diafra? or could he start out with both of them. If he should choose the 3rd of these options, it may be better to use a formation like a 4-4-1-1, where Sakho would be playing in a more central striking role. However, Slav does like the 4-2-3-1 or 4-3-3 formations, so it will be interesting to see what he opts for?! Quite clearly, all remaining games are critical, especially the May 10th game against Man Utd. We really need to win all of the games to ensure a 5-6th final place and a spot in next season’s Europa league.