West Ham United earned a hard-fought point against Aston Villa on Sunday, and one man was truly sensational for us.
The second-half performance from West Ham was absolutely excellent, and Graham Potter will be waking up this morning disappointed that his side didn’t get all three points against Aston Villa.
There are certain players who clearly have no future under Potter, whilst others have flourished since he took the job at the London Stadium.
Sunday’s performance against Villa was one that will have really encouraged the Hammers fans that a bright future lies ahead of us.
There was real intent on display from the Hammers players in everything they did.
The boys were on it in the second-half and put in a performance that we can all be very proud of.
One Hammers player in particular encapsulated everything that was good about our performance as a team.
West Ham star looked unreal vs Aston Villa
It was a great point for the Hammers against Villa.
In fact, we really did deserve the win in the end. There were so many players who really upped their levels at Villa Park.
Max Kilman was the standout performer for West Ham, aside from Lucas Paqueta of course.
He looks like an absolute Rolls Royce of a central defender during our 1-1 draw up in the west Midlands.
Against Villa, Kilman has 67 touches of the football and won four tackles, made two interceptions and seven clearances, and won three aerial duels.
The 27-year-old completed a really impressive 93.9% of the 49 passes that he attempted against Villa (Who Scored).
It really was a terrific all round performance from Kilman – arguably his best ever in a Hammers shirt.
And I don’t think his performance against the Villans was a coincidence.
Konstantinos Mavropanos wasn’t playing due to suspension and surprise, surprise, Kilman was colossal.
It cannot help one little bit playing alongside someone who is error prone and possesses the decision making skills of a fledgling pro.
Mavropanos’s rash challenges and poor positional awareness have left Max Kilman exposed time and time again for West Ham this season, but that obviously didn’t happen against Aston Villa.
The Hammers simply have to sell the Greece international and bring in one top-class centre-back, or realistically two, if we are to improve under Graham Potter.
Kilman’s performance for West Ham against Aston Villa proves that we already have one truly elite central defender at the club.
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