Stan On The Double And Squeak

Konstantinos Mavropanos is a bit of a mouth full to pronounce and on tonight's showing for Greece he is a bit of a hand full for defenders! The towering centre back scored an Andy 'Carrollesque goal' out jumping the keeper and two defenders before crashing the ball in to the net for his country in their drubbing of Gibraltar in the Euro qualifiers. Stan also scored a more 'normal' header just before the end of the 2nd half to put Greece 4-0 up in what was a very one sided game of which the home side were eventual 5-0 winners.

OK it may have been against the group's minnows but as they say, "you can only beat what's in front of you!"

'Stan' did go down for a minute or two early doors after a heavy tackle but thankfully he was up and about in no time. He is an absolute beast in the air and not too bad on the floor either, physically he is one hell of a unit, standing 6'5" and built like a proverbial he looks every inch a player who is more than capable of dealing with the rough and tumble of the Premier League.

What is surprising is the fact that he was supposed to be injured and not available for the game against City, well he looked pretty fit in Athens! Hopefully he will return to London unscathed and be available for what will be Hammers sternest teat of the season so far, but he DOES look like a 'proper' player and will add massively to the strength in depth of Hammers back line.

West Ham have missed having a 'dominant' player in the box for corners and dead ball situations since 'Les' Dawson left for Wolves, well they certainly have another one now! James Ward-Prowse will be licking his lips at the prospect of having such a battering ram on the end of his pin point deliveries.

Another fine recruit Mr Moyes and Mr Steidten! - LN