A truly epic performance from the Hammers today, one that rolled back the years to the old battling Hammers of Bonds and Cross. Here's what we learned….
1. Sakho is special
This boy does not stop running and causing havoc with defences. I don't know where he gets his self belief from, but he has bags of it and it's lovely to watch
2. Adrian's still got it
Our keeper Adrian was at his showman like best today. None of the saves were absolutely top draw, but he gave a sort of sense of invincibility I've not seen since the days of Ludo. Good work.
3. The Ginger Maldini still rules
I've criticised Collins in the past but today he was absolutely immense and was my man of the match. He stayed on his feet when he needed to and resisted the temptation to dive in on Aguero. A strong and mature performance.
4. Pacey fullbacks maketh the team
I've already given praise to Cresswell, who I think is absoltuely tops, but credit as well to Carl Jenkinson, who has started to really settle and looks like he is enjoying himself down the right hand side. A player we should certainly be looking to keep if his form continues.
5. City are good but….
City fans, don't get me wrong. I actually like Man City, Aguero and Silva are a pleasure to watch and they generally conduct themselves well. But watching El Classico after the our game, it illustrated to me how far City are from European dominance. They have the aforementioned great players but they also carry some not so great ones.
Take Kompany today – if you were a scout watching him and Collins today, who would you choose? I'm not suggesting Collins is a better player, but in order for Kompany to be, he needs to continually out peform his peers, which I don't think he does. He is not as good as he thinks he is going forward and seems to be spend alot of time rectifying the mistakes as result from doing so. He should stay deeper and play a simpler ball to the many City players who can play with it, rather than put his team in dangeras often as he does.
Anyway, enough of that, Champions League….are we having a laugh?