The dust has now settled – somewhat – after a rip-roaring penalty shootout in which West Ham’s five perfect penalties sent the home side through to an enticing quarter final.
Incredible composure and skill from first Jarrod Bowen, Taty Castellanos , Callum Wilson, Tomas Soucek and finally unlikely hero Dinos Mavropanos (who knew!) who all placed their spot kicks with geometric precision well out of reach of the formidable Kelleher.
Most un-West Ham like!
It may be nothing in the context of Premier League survival: More likely it further develops West Ham’s growing ‘band of brothers‘ unity which was personified by Axel Disasi, a Chelsea player on loan for just a few more weeks, celebrating blocking a Brentford attack with a roar and a fist pump as if he’d scored the winner (which he almost did, his thunderous shot in the dying moments from all of thirty yards scraping the top of the crossbar).
Nuno is definitely building something here.
Less headline-worthy this morning, but hugely significant, was the performance of twenty year old Mohamadou Kanté, who looked ‘to the manor born’ in West Ham’s midfield against what was a Premier League- quality opponent.
Mohamadou Kanté-9/10 performance
In giving him a nine out of ten rating for his performance, londonworld.com summed up:
“That felt like the full arrival of Kante at West Ham in a seriously impressive showing well past his 20 years of age. The star moment came in a brilliant tackle to win the ball high up in the 32nd minute. That’s the sort of intervention that can inspire a team and indeed it did so – Bowen succeeding with a similar challenge moments later.”
The fact that Kanté was immediately and sorely missed when replaced with the scratchy, error-prone Magassa showed how high the youngster had set the bar last night. Careers are born in such evenings and, away from the drama that became the penalty shootout festival, I suspect a new star was born in West Ham’s midst last night.
He was immense and as I sat there watching, laughing at how effortless he made it look, I realised that we have something very special on our hands. Watching Henderson trying to mount him, just to bounce off and land heavily on the floor was a sight to behold.
Nothing is getting through this lad. He is our version of Hodor (see Game of Thrones), and I can’t wait to see him again and my man of the match.
Disasi, Kante (superb), Bowen (a class above) stood out, while Areola pulled off great saves. Scarles since seen him start, keeps getting caught out by exactly the same cross field pass over his shoulder, when he hesitates and is fooled every time. Bit worried about him and Potts not making it in the 1st team long term, outshone by others. Could all change very quickly at such a young age if work on overcoming weaknesses & improving – still hope it comes good. Nice to see Traore trying more, getting involved – evidence again of coaching behind the scenes to improve individuals, as well as team’s togetherness roping in newcomers.
Taty looked tired & surprised Summerville came on, but I thought midfield and frontline should ALL be rested from necessity, while trying to stay in the cup. Could not have been more wrong.