Slaven’s next big challenge

Slaven Bilic was absolutely right to single out Diafra Sakho for special praise this morning and we had all better hope the lad stays fit for he is the key to everything that the Hammers are doing at the moment.

He showed yesterday against the best team in the and – a side that hadn’t conceded all season – that he can occupy and take defenders out of position to create the space for us to make our new way of playing really pay.

That Slaven should mention it only bears out what I’ve been saying for a while now – the guy is a tremendous player and as an old centre forward I truly appreciate him.

He’s a diamond who also does a magnificent job chasing back and defending. No praise is high enough.

Should we need to bring Andy Carroll back into the team we are going to see Slaven presented with a new challenge – can he fit them into another way of playing?

I am totally convinced he will because we are looking at a great manager. It’s early days STILL but this is a man with quality written through him.

We absolutely deserve to be in second place and what impressed me so much yesterday was that even when we were totally under the cos, when we did get possession we still carried a terrific threat and ‘Sak’ could have easily had another in the second half

Yesterday’s win was monumental and I am incredibly proud. This is all happening with a brand of football we haven’t seen from the team for years.

The old days are back – the West Ham Way is back and we should be loud and proud. We are living through a period of our history we though would never return.

And it’s absolutely glorious.