Becoming Mr Reliable I One Hammer’s Quiet Progress

Concentrating on one of West Ham’s newest debutants yesterday in the 1 -1 draw against Brentford, it was easy to miss a solid, stand-out performance from a player who, by Jean Clair Todibo‘s standards is an established ‘first team regular’. Taking into consideration that three of the Hammers’ back four were recruited in August, for one of them already to be cementing his place as a solid, reliable defender is no mean feat, considering he only arrived a couple of months ago himself.

Admittedly I had been on ‘Todibo-Watch’ so only when I looked at the stats later did I realise how well Max Kilman is shaping up at the heart of the Hammers’ defence. It is difficult living up to a £40 million price tag, but Kilman has grown in stature since the friendly games in Florida when there were signs of shaky decision making. I’m also aware of the irony at offering suggestions of praise to a component of a defence which has leaked 9 goals in eight days – so I’m keeping everything in perspective here.

‘Becoming’ reliable, not yet the finished article. Looking purely at the statistics, Kilman is doing good work: Sofascore yesterday rated him as a 7.1 out of 10 which just for context was a higher score than Manchester City’s Rúben Dias attained, 6.8, on the same day.

One of the reasons I’m sure why Lopetegui, Steidten and the team all sing from the same hymn sheet with the ‘it will take time’ verse: This was match day six in the Premier League and the Hammers’ second-half back four had never played together. It does ‘take time’ to gel.

Now that Kilman looks to have a new defensive partner in Todibo, there is every opportunity for the two to produce an effective pairing and head towards that collector’s item of a clean sheet – which will start to help turn West Ham’s fortunes around. The visit of Ipswich Town next week to London Stadium will be the perfect time and place to start.