West Ham must drop Issa Diop vs Man Utd | OneFootball

Ahead of West Ham United’s big Premier League clash against Manchester United on Saturday afternoon, David Moyes will have some major calls to make about his line-up.

The Hammers were on the wrong end of a 3-2 score-line against Leeds United last time out at the London Stadium, and know that in the battle for the top four, suffering back-to-back defeats, and that too to a Champions League rival in the Red Devils would be a damaging blow.

One man who looked all at sea in that game against the Whites last week, was Issa Diop.

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How many Premier League goals did West Ham United score in the 2020/21 Premier League season?

57 62 67 72

The Frenchman was at the heart of defence for the Hammers, but got dragged this way and that by Leeds’ dynamic front three of Dan James, Raphinha and hat-trick hero Jack Harrison.

As per Sofascore, Diop was dribbled past twice over the course of the 90 minutes, the most of any player on the pitch, while he also looked extremely shaky on the ball, losing possession ten times and completing just one of his four attempted long passes.

It was no surprise that he duly came in for some big criticism from some sections of the Hammers fan-base, with a few calling for him to be dropped and pining for the return of his fellow Frenchman Kurt Zouma.

Writing in his post-match player ratings for Football.London, Tom Clark gave him a three, saying: “Should have done better with Leeds’ second goal where Luke Ayling ran off him and nodded down an assist for Harrison. Fortunate Mateusz Klich’s goal was disallowed after letting Raphinha get away from him too easily.”

With such a crucial game against Ralf Rangnick’s side on the horizon, Moyes desperately needs his back-line to be as reliable as ever, and Diop just hasn’t shown he can be the man to provide that in such a crunch clash.