West Ham star was the best signing since Bowen but is now ‘shabby’

Sunday afternoon was yet another reminder that this season is going to be a long and tough one for West Ham United.

Nuno Espirito Santo’s side have been in pretty good form in recent months, losing just two of their last seven games.

However, defeat to Aston Villa at the weekend left the East Londoners in the relegation zone, three points behind Leeds United in 17th place.

While it wasn’t a horror show against the Villains, there were some players who disappointed fans. That included a player who at one point looked set to become West Ham’s best signing since Jarrod Bowen.

West Ham did well against Villa.

So who played well for West Ham on Sunday afternoon?

Well, regardless of the result, this was another great performance from Matheus Fernandes, who not only scored the first goal in the first minute, but also continued to pose a threat in the center of the park.

For example, in 90 minutes of play, the Portuguese dynamo made 68 touches, recovered the ball 11 times, made one interception and completed 48 passes, 25 of which were completed inside Villa’s half.

Alongside him in the middle of the park, it was also another promising display of Freddie Potts.

The academy ace was reliable in possession and always won the ball back, completing 96% of his 45 pass attempts.

Furthermore, it was his scuffed try that led to Bowen’s goal.

The former Hull City star was one of the hosts’ better players on the day, and in addition to his goal, he completed two dribbles, made an important pass and looked a threat overall.

But while those three starters had good shifts against the Villains, there were also a number of players who were underwhelmed, including one player who looked like an incredible contract not too long ago.

West Ham star looks like best signing since Bowen

There were some poor performances on Sunday, but the most disappointing and perhaps the most concerning was from El Hadji Malik Diouf.

That’s because not too long ago, the former Slavia Prague star looked like one of West Ham’s best players in a while.

Over the first few months of the season, his explosive and predatory runs on the pitch were one of the few truly exciting aspects about the Hammers.

Furthermore, although this was not always the case, the Senegalese player often delivered a wicked cross at the end of his run up the pitch.

This ability to get the ball into dangerous areas saw him provide three assists in the first five league games of the season.

What was very impressive was that even if he didn’t get an assist, his crosses still led to goals, as he did in Nuno’s first match away to Everton.

At that point, the Hammers appeared to have acquired a star player, with Sky Sports’ Joe Tomlinson claiming he was “one of the discoveries of the season”.

Unfortunately, his attacking power has all but dried up since then, with no assists or goals added to his record. In fact, he exceeded his expected assists by 2.32, according to Understat.

If he were a reliable defender, this lack of offensive ability wouldn’t be so much of an issue, but he isn’t and has been caught out on numerous occasions in recent months.

For example, Chris Sutton, commentating on 5 Live, described the 20-year-old’s performance in defending Jacob Murphy’s goal for Newcastle United as “pretty shabby”.

The former Sliver star had a poor performance on Sunday as well, winning just 50 per cent of his tackles, losing the ball nine times, losing five of eight ground duels and committing two fouls.

After all, there’s still time for Diouf to do well. He has talent, but as things stand, he is looking increasingly like a problem for West Ham.