‘He leaves Chelsea players trailing’ | Hammers sit up and take notice at last. The closing minutes of last night’s Chelsea defeat were an encouraging yet ultimately frustrating watch for Hammers fans at Stamford Bridge and watching from home on Sky tv.
West Ham fully deserved to get something out of the game having surrendered a one goal lead, enduring dodgy decisions and coming tantalisingly close through a Kudus shot cleared late on.
Both Lewis Orford and Ollie Scarles again got minutes on the pitch and did not disappoint, Scarles in particular looking the part and a shoe-in for Emerson when the time comes. But one other young Hammer caught my eye – having sat and waited out so many games in endless frustration, Luis Guilherme showed a little flash of his potential which may have been enough to cause the coaching staff at West Ham to re-evaluate.
So much more to come – Luis Guilherme
Late on, having been introduced in only the 87th minute, we’d all be forgiven for expecting zero from a teenager: Guilherme, into stoppage time, burst forward, – as the Hammers’ blog put it – ‘leaves Chelsea players trailing’ in a burst of pace with control. If you get the chance, look at the whufc.com highlights video at 6m.40s and you’ll see Hammers’ young talent run half the length of the pitch, lay off a pass and continue to the back post: He then has the presence of mind to step over the goal-line to avoid being off side if Kudus’ shot had gone in.
Earlier, when we spoke with our highly placed source at the club, regarding the rumours of a late departure into the Dutch league today as reported by some sources, it is clear that Guilherme’s contribution against Chelsea was noticed:
“We decided to keep him, despite bids, as we really thought last night was his best performance”.
Clearly I’m not the only one who saw something worth hanging onto then.
I sense there is so much more to come from Luis Guilherme, hopefully Potter can bring him through into contention for West Ham’s starting eleven. That kind of pace and control wins matches. The news of Crysencio Summerville’s long absence whilst disappointing for fans, can work to Guilherme’s advantage: There’s a starting place available.
