A welcome break from Premier League misery for Nuno Espirito Santo, but there was still one negative to come out of West Ham United’s tense 2-1 FA Cup third round victory over Queens Park Rangers.
An injury to Konstantinos Mavropanos.
It is testament really to how few quality central defensive options Nuno Espirito Santo has at his disposal these days that Mavropanos – so often at the scene of countless West Ham United crimes – now feels like a big loss should he be stuck on the sidelines for an extended period.
Mavropanos is the only Hammers centre-back who seems capable of winning headers with any great regularity. The Greek international wins 64 per cent of his aerial duels, per Data MB, compared to Max Kilman’s 18 per cent and Jean-Clair Todibo’s 11 per cent.
FA Cup progress after extra-time 😎 Give us your INSTANT reaction…
Great header from Taty! 😍
No wonder West Ham are considering Brentford veteran Ethan Pinnock as a potential solution to their weaknesses from corners and set-pieces.
It is probably no coincidence, meanwhile, that QPR’s equaliser came about when Mavropanos was off the pitch.
He was forced off following a lengthy stoppage at the end of the first half, clattering into the ground from up high when attempting to win a header in the QPR box. With Todibo and Kilman starting together in the second-half, and with Aaron Wan-Bissaka again falling asleep at the back post, Richard Kone equalised with the simplest of headers.
Nuno Espirito Santo reacts to Konstantinos Mavropanos injury at West Ham United
Speaking to the media at full-time, Nuno admitted that he does not yet know the extent of Mavropanos’ injury. But with central defensive additions seemingly far-from imminent, the head coach will be praying it is not as serious as it first appeared.
“It was a neck injury,” Nuno tells the club’s official website. “We are assessing it now. He’s in pain, and he will need a couple of days to settle down.
“Hopefully, he’s going to be okay.”
It remains to be seen if Mavropanos has any hope of recovering in time to face Tottenham Hotspur next weekend.
On the upside, the club appear to have found themselves quite the centre-forward.
Nuno hails Pablo Felipe and FA Cup matchwinner Taty Castellanos
Jarrod Bowen was delighted to see Taty Castellanos open his account in extra time, a fine header on the back of some ‘brilliant’ Crysencio Summerville wingplay.
Pablo Felipe caught the eye at times too on his second substitute appearance in a claret and blue jersey.
Surprisingly, Nuno opted to bring Pablo on in place of Mavropanos, necessitating a tactical reshuffle and a shift towards a more positive line-up.
“Today, we go home happy as I think we played a good game and we deserved to win,” says Nuno, this being only his third victory across 17 matches in charge.
“We were organised. I think it was a big fight but, in terms of the game, the way we played was good. We were in control, we were dominant in the beginning of the second half and we created so many situations that we need to try and click for the final pass, the final assist.
Who was West Ham’s MOTM against QPR and why?! 👀
“Overall the spirit, the fight, the desire, the character of the boys, especially in this situation, it makes everything better for us. Hopefully, the week is going to be better.
“Taty, Pablo, I think for the front players goals gives confidence and hopefully for all of our attackers we can have a boost of confidence that we’re going to need,” he adds. “They bring us more options. We are trying to rebalance the squad, we still need bodies, but today was a very important day for us.
“We won the game, we played good football, we had the fight, we had the organisation. It makes our week better in terms of improvement, in terms of atmosphere, so we can prepare for Tottenham in a better way, knowing that we have a big task ahead of us.
“But we believe, we believe.”
Receive a digest of our best West Ham content each week direct to your mailbox
