OPINION
West Ham finally got the job done against Fulham last night but they didn’t make it safe until a late goal from Michail Antonio allowed the home crowd to breathe again. They started off terribly and were perhaps lucky that Fulham only scored once in the opening ten or 15 minutes.
Angelo Ogbonna wasn’t the only West Ham star to start the game poorly and he wasn’t the only one who got his act together in the second-half, but the 30-year-old centre-back impressed the fans the most after a number of unconvincing displays earlier in the season.
He was a rock in the second-half and West Ham ran out worthy 3-1 winners against a side that promised so much at the London Stadium and then fell away, much to the frustration of Claudio Ranieri.
Ogbonna has now seemingly played himself into Manuel Pellegrini’s side as a regular starter, with Fabian Balbuena injured, after playing the first two games of the season and then being dropped for the next 12 league games.
The win lifts the Hammers to ninth in the league where they’ll stay whatever happens with the rest of the results over the weekend. They now have a six point buffer over Everton and will be looking up to Wolves in eighth, three points ahead of them.
Here are the best reactions to a surprisingly good performance from Ogbonna last night:
https://twitter.com/COYIrons_com/status/1099051472472428544
Ogbonna did really well there. Usually he would have left that, but Fabianski hesitated so he dealt with it. Very good defending really, which is strange to come from Ogbonna. #WHUFUL
— Rabeinho (@Rabeinho) February 22, 2019
Ogbonna is actually good at football again, lovely
— ? (@27morg) February 22, 2019
Good defending again from Ogbonna
— The West Ham Way (@WestHamWayCom) February 22, 2019
https://twitter.com/TimCratchett/status/1099210401978425346
https://twitter.com/usawhu/status/1099104865521938433
https://twitter.com/8900Whu/status/1099085176838197248
Seeing certain players getting praised after that, but a lot of people not giving Ogbonna the praise he deserves.
— James (@JameswhufcJones) February 22, 2019
https://twitter.com/JesseWHUFC/status/1099079829775966208
Ogbonna and Diop great once again!?
— Peter Finch (@Pfinch215) February 22, 2019
This was a big switch from earlier in the match when Ogbonna was getting pelters from the West Ham fans:
Ogbonna should be playing for that Serie C team that just lost 20-0. Fit right in.
— ??? (@TheReelSB) February 22, 2019
https://twitter.com/deanthornton1/status/1099033550983172097