Following BlindHammer’s excellent post of Jim McWeeny’s ‘Songs From A Sleepless Night’ I thought I’d add a further suggestion with an old Classic from The Clash.
Early October HamburgHammer asked if Diafra Sakho was worth a contract extension. Now the January transfers are about to commence I thought it the appropriate time to debate the ‘Should He Stay Or Should He Go’ question.
He’s currently 28 years of age so if he does move on then another club will gain the benefit of Sakho in his prime. His contribution to the team often goes unsung. The options that he gives, his work in the channels and the way he pulls defences around are all tremendous contributors in matches. I’m not sure everyone appreciates just how good Diafra’s movement really is. Defence is another area he mucks in with. Over the last couple of seasons he’s not, really, had a decent run of games. For many players this would be a huge setback – one from which it would be difficult to get back up to full match capacity. When Diafra is called upon after a lay off he seems to, almost immediately, look like he is 5 games back in to his stride. Conversely Diafra has been on the scoresheet regularly when getting a run in the team. In his first season he broke West Ham’s Premier League record, and equalled Micky Quinn’s, when he struck six from six in his first half dozen starts – becoming the Premier League Player Of The Month in October 2014. Overall his strike rate is favourable compared to other forwards.
Sakho’s injury list is, relatively speaking, a long one. Although not as prolific as Andy Carroll he first spent time on the side-lines following an injury against West Brom before, controversially, pulling out of the ACON with Senegal. When his national team officials wanted him to fly to Senegal for a medical West Ham refused on the grounds of him being unfit to travel. Subsequently the club were fined 100K Swiss Francs after Diafra was played and scored the only goal of the game in the FA Cup victory against Bristol City – travelling to Ashton Gate in a Limousine. That said when my boys and I attended an open training session at Upton Park in 2015 it was Diafra who was the most charming and engaging player my boys encountered. He was already my older lad’s favourite so when reports of Diafra being questioned by Police following an alleged night club incident of assault on a woman it was a hard one for my son to get his head around – although I did explain to him that they were not necessarily true but were just allegations at that stage.
Earlier in 2017-18, during the open transfer window, Diafra was reported to have been attempting to force a move by taking it upon himself to travel to Rennes for a medical, which he passed, without the consent of West Ham. After returning to England, instead of attending training, he went to Chelmsford races to see one of his agent’s horses run in the 3.20. Wherever he goes there appear to be reports of behaviour less than exemplary. Some of it many would consider disruptive and unforgiveable. I can fully understand that but, as fans, we have to swallow a lot a rubbish. Having Diafra Sakho still playing for the club after the window closes would be nowhere near as big a load to bear than so many others we’ve had to put up with – counting this season alone if not over the last few.
If the dressing room was being negatively affected by Diafra’s actions then I’d be all for him being offloaded as quickly as possible. But by all accounts there’s no conflict or disharmony arising so I’m not convinced by any argument based that he should be moved on for this reason.
From a playing perspective, with what Diafra offers us on the pitch, it’s an overwhelming ‘Stay’ from me. From that perspective alone I just can’t see the sense in letting him leave and creating a gaping hole in our squad – which will cost quite a considerable amount to fill. Things happen in people’s lives so I’m not going to be one to judge Diafra on his off field antics down the years and, more recently, his reported actions to engineer a move away from the club. He’s a slightly better striker than Andy Carroll, in terms of goals per game, and contributes a great deal to the team in other areas. Whatever my opinion is, and even if the club want him to stay, player power generally rules when it comes to influencing transfers. Sadly he appears to want away so I suspect he’ll be moving on in January.
Perhaps I have it wrong and there are many better replacements lined up to take Diafra’s place. On one of the popular Vlogger sites I recently watched a suggestion that we should offload Sakho, Carroll and Ayew in January. Even if we brought through Toni Martinez we’d still be very light for striking options, should that come to pass, and I wonder how much we’d need to pay out to secure replacements. I’m not sure who David Moyes and David Sullivan might have in mind but, in West Ham’s current position, I’m not convinced it will be easy to bring quality replacements in. I really don’t see the sale of three strikers in one pop a sensible tactic so, out of the the three of them, I’d retain Diafra. He’s just better than one in three, whereas the other two are not quite one in four, and certainly offers more to the team than Andrew Ayew IMO. All boiled down it really does depend who the club can bring in. If Carroll and Ayew do move on perhaps Diafra can be made to feel a major part of the manager’s plans for the rest of the season and we’ll see him at his, excellent, best again.
On to the West Brom game I’m hopeful of a decent performance as I’m bringing both my lads for their first game of the season along with one of my darts team and his lad of a similar age to mine. On paper it’s a game we should win but, as one of the managerial greats of the game once pointed out, it’s a game played on grass.
COYI! West Ham 4 The Cup!