It’s been an encouraging week for Dimitri Payet at club level. His superb brace against Newcastle has attracted a host of media attention and the praise of Slaven Bilic.
The manager explained how he hopes to get the best out of the Frenchman as many opponents will be weary of his threat:
“I don’t think the other teams would not have been aware of him and they would have been trying to mark him anyway. But he is a good player.” Bilic told the media.
“I am not comparing him to Messi, Ronaldo or Silva, but just as an example all the managers are trying to stop them but they cannot do it as they are great players,
“Dimitri is playing in a position that you have to close down no matter who plays there. I think he is going to continue playing like this, especially if the team continue to help him.”
“We are trying to make the situations easier for him to get him in a situation where he is one against one and then he has got the quality.”
It seems as Bilic is playing down Payet’s influence on the team which is probably a sensible ploy from the manager.
In contrast, France manager Didier Deschamps responded to Dimitri Payet’s comments earlier this week about his involvement with the national team:
Deschamps told RMC Radio: “It doesn’t bother me, players say what they like.
“I am not going to go in the media to respond to them.
“He is not the first and not the last. He is in training, I talk to him and I tell him what I expect on the field.
“After that, he understands or he doesn’t. He has the right not to understand, it is not really my problem. You have to deserve what you get in life.
“But I don’t just have lambs for players. They have character.”
It seems Deschamps has provided a rather stubborn response to a player questioning why he isn’t being picked for the national team. Perhaps it is a ploy to get even more out of Payet but it is a completely different managerial approach to that of Bilic.
The best situation for both Payet and West Ham is that the midfielder continues to concentrate on producing his best football for the Club. If he carries on playing in this manner, Deschamps will have to pick him.
Does Payet deserve to be an international player? How do you rate his start at West Ham? Comment below
