Phil Thompson savages ‘nightmare’ West Ham first teamer
West Ham have had a season to forget, that much is certain.
You could probably argue that most of the squad has underperformed at one point or another, but one man in particular who will want to put this sorry campaign behind him is goalkeeper Roberto.
The Spaniard was brought in over the summer to act as cover for Lukasz Fabianski, but was thrust into the limelight when the big Pole picked up an injury against Bournemouth back in September.
In the aftermath of that blow, Roberto suffered howler after howler, to a point where he was dropped and replaced by David Martin, who himself had been brought in over the summer to act as an extra man in training sessions.
And Phil Thompson has summed up Roberto’s plight pretty succinctly.
Speaking on Soccer Saturday (Sky Sports News, Saturday December 28th, 13.20), he said: “The goalkeeper was a massive one [blow].
“We saw his stand-in [Roberto] absolutely have a nightmare of a time.
“Couldn’t keep anything out, couldn’t make a save, didn’t give anybody confidence. They were worried every time the other team had an attack.”
Ordinarily, you might argue that these are harsh words from the pundit, but the fact of the matter is that he is only speaking the truth.
Roberto will surely go down in infamy as one of the Hammers’ worst ever signings.
He may have averaged 4.4 saves per game in the Premier League, as per Whoscored, but he made mistakes that were directly responsible for two goals in just eight appearances, as per the league themselves, not to mention an own goal and the host of errors he made that could have led to goals too.
He was a disaster, and the sooner he is gone out of the club, the better.
In other news, Senior West Ham man facing January ‘D-Day’ situation.