Last night's comprehensive UEFA Europa League cup victory over Genk gave fans a further glimpse of two thirds of West Ham's back line French triumvirate that could be in place for years to come, as Alphonse Areola kept a clean sheet behind a defence superbly marshalled by Issa Diop, and 'Les' Dawson. Diop is now showing signs that he is rekindling the stunning form he showed when he first arrived at the London Bowl!
It should be remembered that Diop is only 24 years of age and has the best part of his career ahead of him, the prospect of Issa, Alphonse Areola and Kurt Zouma forming Hammers French back line is mouth watering and does smack of other teams past 'romances' with Gallic players, but so what?
The fact that both centre backs scored with headed goals won't have gone unnoticed by opposing teams, they are already mindful of the proliferation of Hammers set piece successes. It didn't go unnoticed by the fans who packed the London Bowl last night, the atmosphere of which was similar and dare we say on a par with nights under the lights at the beloved Boleyn ground.
When he signed for the club, Kurt Zouma joined up with the already prominent 'French Speaking Connection' of Alphonse Areola, Said Benrahma, Issa Diop and Authur Masuaku. Fitting in was definitely not a problem, however it is rumoured that he could not and cannot understand a word when Mark Noble rolls out the french phrases he learned while 'fishing' with Dimitri Payet!
Seeing Joe Cole nearly exploding with joy on BT Sports coverage showed that (a) he loves the club a load more than some other high profile ex-Hammers and (b) he believes this is the start of something really special, "Hammers Aller Tout Droit' -Straight Ahead!
Tottingham up next at the Bowl, hopefully Moyes and his boys will be able to put to bed the club's unwelcome current Barclays Premier League home record, which is far exceeded by what is the joint best away record in the entire league! Oh and of course, after Totttingham comes to small matter of taking on the perennial winners of the Carabou Cup, Manchester City! - Ed
Comments
mangetout Rodney
je souffle des bulles pour toujours......De jolies bulles dans l'air....Ils volent si haut, atteignent presque le ciel....Puis comme mes rêves ils s'effacent et meurent....La fortune se cache toujours....j'ai regardé partout....je souffle des bulles pour toujours....De jolies bulles dans l'air....UTD UTD UTD
je m'appelle jeff j'ai un
je m'appelle jeff j'ai un pigeon sur mon compte bancaire - Merci les sportifs..............................Taxi!!
Areola
Had a nightmare of a game. God knows how he would have performed against a decent team.