Opinions

Savage puts spotlight on Balbuena

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Image for Savage puts spotlight on Balbuena

OPINION

Robbie Savage thankfully put the spotlight on West Ham defender Fabian Balbuena following his performance in the 3-0 win over Newcastle United on Saturday.

The BT Sport pundit named the 27-year-old centre-back in his Team of the Week, which he shared on his verified Twitter account, alongside Felipe Anderson and Javier Hernandez, and it was no more than the Paraguayan deserved.

Balbuena was excellent against the Magpies as he put his body on the line and snuffed out any chance of opportunity the Magpies thought they could possible have on goal.

The defender’s display was only made better by the fact he appeared to take a significant knock during the game, which he shrugged off in order to keep on battling for his side.

Balbuena’s fighting spirit and the fact his performance didn’t drop despite the set-back was impressive and in fairness it shouldn’t be surprise as he has generally been excellent all season.

The 27-year-old has a no nonsense style of defending and has easily made the Hammers look more solid at the back in the 14 outings he has made since joining in the summer.

Yet Balbuena is regularly, including on Saturday, wrongly overshadowed due to Issa Diop equally impressing alongside him.

Diop’s performance constantly gets highlighted and you feel that the player gets more public praise due to how much the Hammers spent on him (£22million, Source: BBC Sport), his age (21) and the fact that Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho publicly praised him by labelling him a monster (Source: London Evening Standard).

However the fact of the matter is, Balbuena has been as impressive as Diop and the duo help each other look better as their styles perfectly compliment each other.

Diop may not look as impressive without his no nonsense teammate covering him when he ventures forward due to being comfortable in possession.

Therefore it’s great to see Savage name Balbuena in his Team of the Week ahead of Diop, despite both doing great on Saturday, as it puts the spotlight firmly on the 27-year-old’s talents rather than his promising teammate for once.

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