Craig Dawson has set the record straight regarding West Ham United fans’ misconception about him as a player.
The 32-year-old originally joined the Hammers on a season-long loan from Watford in October 2020. West Ham then made his move to the London Stadium a permanent one for a further £3 million in the summer of 2021 (The Sun).
Daws has established himself as a cult hero at West Ham but he’s actually a lot more than that. He’s a very good good defender, and labelling him as a cult hero really doesn’t do him justice.
It’s a huge worry that Dawson could leave East London in the summer of 2023.
The 32-year-old is one of the best passers amongst the West Ham centre-backs now having worked really hard to improve that aspect of his game, and he deserves huge credit for that.
Dawson has proven that you shouldn’t ever judge a book by its cover.
It seems as though the West Ham fans were too quick to pass judgment on Dawson’s ability though, myself included…
Craig Dawson sets the record straight regarding West Ham fans’ misconception about him
The former Watford and West Brom man arrived at the London Stadium with the reputation of an old-school, no nonsense defender, and in some ways, that’s exactly what he is.
Dawson has many more strings to his bow though, and began impressing the Hammers fans last season with his exceptional array of passing.
That is a skill that he has always had though, according to the man himself. Dawson told WHUFC.com:
I think my passing out from the back has always been there, to be honest. When I was at Rochdale, that’s probably where it started, so it’s always been there. It’s just about being confident enough to do that and last year I showed bits of that which was good. So hopefully I can do that again and get it going again.
Despite what Dawson says, he definitely wasn’t spraying the ball around with ease during his first season in a West Ham shirt.
But perhaps that was because he wasn’t confident enough to do so.
Either way, Craig Dawson is clearly a much better footballer than most West Ham fans gave him credit for.
Let’s just hope that David Moyes manages to keep him at the London Stadium for the foreseeable future. He really is vitally important to everything good that we do as a club.
Read also:
‘Special’ player was so close to leaving West Ham in the summer transfer window
‘Really good’: Fornals names the West Ham new signing who’s impressed him already
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