West Ham United: TalkSPORT pundit blown away by ‘excellent’ Lukasz Fabianski v Bayer Leverkusen
West Ham United goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski has blown Ray Houghton away with an “excellent” piece of goalkeeping in the Irons clash with Bayer Leverkusen.
David Moyes’ side were unable to bring a lead back to the London Stadium in the first leg of their Europa League clash on Thursday (11 April) as goals from Jonas Hofmann and Victor Boniface gave the home side a 2-0 lead.
Despite the defeat, the Hammers impressed out of possession for much of the game and talkSPORT co-commentator and pundit Houghton was quick to heap praise on Fabianski for a special piece of sweeper keeping.
Speaking on talkSPORT on Thursday (11 April, 9:37) he said: “That’s the first time I’ve seen West Ham played through with one pass, you can see Mavropanos square on and he’s not looked where Hoffman was.
“The sweeper keeper though, I think he has been excellent tonight Fabianski. He has come out and he read it, he knew he was going to get there first. It looked like he kneed it out of play for a throw-in, but very good goalkeeping from Fabianski again.”
Will Alphonse Areola be fit to start for West Ham United against Fulham?
Most supporters would have been worried when they heard Alphonse Areola was set to be sidelined for the next few weeks, but when the Hammers needed him the most, Fabianski has stepped up and performed well.
The 38-year-old made an astonishing nine saves against Leverkusen on Thursday night and swept up excellently outside of his area to give Moyes’ side the best chance of bringing a lead back to East London.
While the Irons didn’t manage to finish the job off as they fell asleep in the final moments of the showdown to concede twice, the blame certainly cannot be laid at Fabianski’s feet as he couldn’t have done any more.
Supporters will likely be hoping that Areola will be back fit, available and in the starting XI sooner rather than later but until the Frenchman returns, Moyes knows that he has a more than able deputy waiting in the wings.
In other West Ham news, one broadcaster has slammed Lucas Paqueta for what he did in the Irons “disaster” of a defeat
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