Two West Ham stars have been condemned to bench oblivion after their ‘FA Cup disasters’ at the weekend. One these names will not surprise you but one will disappoint, I’m guessing. There were, admittedly, several poor performances on Sunday as Leeds United triumphed despite West Ham’s late rally.
Changes were made to Nuno’s FA Cup starting eleven at half time to try and address the manner in which Leeds were overrunning the Irons, and it seems largely on the results of this one game, planetfootball.com have seen fit to add two West Ham players to their list of:
As well as identifying Arsenal’s Kepa and Lewis Skelly as being surplus to requirements at The Emirates, the report is equally scathing on two West Ham quarter final starters who, it claims, will not appear further before the season is decided:
Max Kilman
“..became arguably the worst signing in West Ham history, a £40million millstone with five years left on an unfathomable contract.
The centre-half was booed by his own fans during the FA Cup defeat to Leeds in which he conceded a penalty, Nuno Espirito Santo having given Kilman his first appearance since the fourth-round win over Burton Albion in mid-February.”
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Kilman-Wolves
Out of contention – finally – if this report is accurate. Max Kilman’s Hammers career looking over
Kilman has played 25 minutes in the Premier League since his last start for the Hammers – a 3-0 defeat to Wolves in early January. If he is called on again at any stage this season, there might well be another mass walk-out at the London Stadium.”
Cannot argue with that one, but booing your own players? Not on in my book. The second name may be more of a surprise:
Freddie Potts
“The relative bright spots earlier in the campaign have long since faded, giving way to half-time substitutions on two of his last three Premier League starts, a straight red card against League One Burton and a risible showing against Leeds.
Oops – Potts gets his FA Cup marching orders
The list of individuals who must shoulder responsibility for this West Ham mess before Potts is absurdly long, but equally this is not really the place for a 22-year-old who would not be in the picture were it not for his academy background.”
Potts has certainly suffered this season after a promising start to his West Ham career. His progress seems to have stalled and now youngster Mohammed Kanté seems likely to sit ahead of him in the Hammers pecking order. It is a mystery, after such early promise. Seems a little early to be writing him off though.