Issa Diop was omitted from West Ham’s squad on Wednesday night because Manuel Pellegrini wanted a more diverse range of options from his bench, according to ExWHUemployee.
The 6’4″ Frenchman was left out of the Hammers’ plans for the 2-0 defeat to Wolves, with Angelo Ogbonna and Fabien Balbuena preferred in the starting XI.
And Ex has taken to Twitter to explain the situation.
Writing on his personal account, he said: “He was in the squad just wasn’t selected.
“It was felt we may need other options from the bench and Declan [Rice] can drop back to centre back if needed.”
OPINION
Not seeing Diop on the team sheet will have come as a surprise to many West Ham fans, and the Frenchman will have no doubt felt slightly aggrieved at being omitted from Manuel Pellegrini’s plans on Wednesday night. For the most part, the young defender has been an exemplary player for the Hammers since arriving in England, and to see him left out entirely felt like a real slight on his efforts. So far this season, he has averaged 1.3 tackles, 1.7 interceptions, and 3.6 clearances per game, as per Whoscored, and while those numbers aren’t earth shattering, they are good enough to suggest that he deserves a spot in the match day squad at the very least. Hopefully, this doesn’t signal the beginning of a trend for the player, who hasn’t done anything to deserve such a brutal axing.
