Who’d have thought it? An International break without Jarrod Bowen representing England was not a promising spell for West Ham fans: Until Scotland play on Saturday there’s no danger of spotting Andy Irving amongst the ‘home nations’ debutants.
But amongst the forensic dissection of England’s failure against Greece at Wembley there were some very positive comments flying around, especially from Greek media who were celebrating their first victory at Wembley. And how they deserved it, the score might have been 1-2 but they had three goals disallowed including one for offside from the head of West Ham’s Konstantinos Mavropanos.
The critics have been kind to The Hammers’ number 15, with Greek site SDNA describing his performance:“Dominant in the air and at the same time with correct placements on the Englishmen’s vertical balls. Very big match from the West Ham stopper”
Lee Dixon, commenting from Wembley, went further :“Mavropanos looks like a world beater today,” Dixon said on ITV,
Most of the build-up play (from Greece) he’s not really involved physically but he’s commanding the midfield players in front of him.
“But anytime the ball comes near him in the box, the ball seems to hit him at some point. Positionally he’s been very good.”
It was an immense performance, without the customary rush of blood or error that West Ham fans will have grown accustomed to this season and which caused Jean-Clair Todibo’s elevation to the starting berth instead of the Greek. It kind of made me proud watching a pretty dominant display.
Now we’d like to see that every week, please.
It would be fantastic if we have 3 genuinely interchangeable centre backs. He always seems to play well for Greece.