West Ham United pundit and podcaster Dave Walker has been sharing his thoughts on Hammers defender Issa Diop and his recent run of form.
This comes after Walker co-hosted a recent episode of The West Ham Way Podcast where he spoke about a number of topics concerning the east London club.
On the subject of Diop, who scored an own goal and a regular goal during West Ham’s recent 3-2 defeat against Newcastle United, Walker had this to say about the Frenchman and his recent run of form for the club. (1.02.03)
He said: “His consistency worries me, but I watch him on the ball, and he seems so sluggish in terms of his agility.
“I don’t know if it’s his fitness, or whether it’s just his style of play, but I don’t know, it’s really strange.
“He never looks comfortable on the ball for me, when you watch him, he just [doesn’t] seem very mobile.”
West Ham signed Diop back in the 2018 summer transfer window from French club Toulouse for a fee of £22.5 million. Since then, the 24-year-old, who is currently valued at £16.2 million, has gone on to make 89 appearances for David Moyes’ side across all competitions in which he has managed to score seven goals and provide one assist in the process (per Transfermarkt).
TIF Thoughts on Dave Walker’s comments on Diop…
Looking at the Newcastle game specifically, Diop managed to earn himself a fairly respectable match rating of 6.77/10, making him West Ham’s fifth-highest rated player on the day, despite him managing to score for both West Ham and Newcastle.
However, looking at the bigger picture, with Diop having played 90 minutes in all of West Ham’s nine previous league fixtures in which they have managed to concede 14 goals in the process when they only conceded 12 goals in the 10 prior league games that Diop spent on the bench, suggests that their defence has got weaker since he started playing regularly.
Have you been disappointed by Diop's form in recent weeks?
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Considering how Diop has had a number of injury issues this season, perhaps this could be the reason why the defender has not looked in top condition in recent weeks as Walker suggested.
In other news: ‘That would be an outrageous move’ – Sky Sports man hails £36m-rated West Ham transfer link