OPINION
Ever since he arrived at West Ham United in the summer of 2018, the question with centre back Issa Diop has always been ‘who will start alongside him?’
However, you’ve now got to think that the Frenchman is no longer an automatic starter at the London Stadium. He has been absolutely woeful this season, and that continued against Tottenham Hotspur on Saturday.
The 22-year-old was dreadful in the 3-2 defeat to Jose Mourinho’s side – not as close as the scoreline suggests – and you’ve got to think that manager Manuel Pellegrini is pondering a change at centre half.
For the Chilean it has always been a toss up between Angelo Ogbonna and Fabian Balbuena as to who partners Diop at the heart of the defence, but the Italian international has done more than enough this campaign to prove he is the main man at the back for the Hammers.
Diop, though, certainly is not. The statistics from Saturday’s game is evidence of that. As per WhoScored.com, the former Toulouse man made just one tackle and once clearance.
Furthermore, he made two fouls and was dispossessed three times. That is a quite astonishing number for a centre back, someone who can’t afford to be loose with the ball.
He was beaten all ends up by Son Heung-min for the opening goal, far too easily mind, while Harry Kane bullied him for the third goal as well.
The youngster is now suspended for next weekend’s trip to Chelsea, and the question of who should replace him is an easy one to answer at the moment.
Pellegrini must turn to Winston Reid and hand the New Zealand international his first Hammers appearance since March 2018. He’s played a couple of games for the Under-23s recently since finally returning from injury, and after Diop’s Saturday horror show, you have to think that an Ogbonna-Reid partnership is the way to go moving forward.
