FIVE-STAR PAYET IS HAMMERS CUP HERO
French star’s dazzling double has Hammers fans believing they’ll end 36 years of hurt
THEY started singing for him just before kick- off, telling everyone how he is ‘Super Slav’s man’ and ‘better than Zidane’.
Two hours later, they were still singing for him, only this time with more volume and pride. Dimitri Payet, the undisputed darling of West Ham, had propelled his side into the FA Cup quarter-finals with a performance of majesty.
Here, in the form of two magnificent goals, was the latest evidence to show why West Ham made him the highest-paid player in the club’s history on £125,000 a week earlier this month, staving off interest from the Chinese Super League. After they made a statement, he followed suit at Ewood Park.
True, Blackburn Rovers are a pale shadow of the club they once were, a team who are now looking over their shoulder in the lower half of the Championship. But that should not take anything away from the performance Payet produced as West Ham moved a step closer to their dream of lifting this famous old pot for the first time since 1980. If Payet keeps playing like this, West Ham might just do it.
He bowed to Hammers fans at the final whistle, giving one lucky youngster his shirt for a souvenir, but the reverence was really the other way around. He was unstoppable and ensured a tricky assignment ended up becoming a breeze.
The Darwen End is one of the best stands in the country for visiting fans, with the best supported clubs always selling out their maximum allocation. With tickets just £20 and the tie having great significance, the 7,185 who travelled from London made this feel like a home game.
Spirits were high and confidence was apparent but it was not reflected on the pitch. In the first 20 minutes, Slaven Bilic looked bewildered as passes were either over-hit or sliced out of play. There was no composure, just anxiety dripping from every claret and blue shirt.
Blackburn, by contrast, were nerveless and enjoying the ‘free hit’ — manager Paul Lambert’s description of this contest — they had at opponents from the division above. They caused more problems and deservedly took the lead through a terrific Ben Marshall strike.
When Elliott Bennett’s corner was only half-cleared by Michail Antonio, Marshall took the ball down with his right foot, hoodwinking Payet in the process, before smashing a left-foot drive into the corner of Darren Randolph’s net from 25 yards.
It had the potential to be one of those moments when West Ham’s You beauty: Payet celebrates with Bilic after his stunning free-kick grand ambitions fell apart — a bobbly pitch, a swirling gust making conditions difficult and a lesser foe fully intent on capitalising. These are components that have led West Ham to capsize many times before. This time, though, thanks to Payet there would be no such calamity. Falling behind jolted them to life and, soon, those passes that had been so wayward began to stick. Within seven minutes of falling behind, West Ham were level. When Lambert sees replays of the equaliser, he will despair that Victor Moses was allowed to run 30 yards into Blackburn’s half without a tackle being made, and the shot which zipped past Jason Steele left his manager aghast. ‘He knows he should have saved it,’ was the blunt assessment. With parity restored, West Ham took control. At the hub of it all was the sparkling Payet — all flicks, feints and deft touches — and he produced the moment of the tie in the 36th minute, curling in a brilliant 30-yard free-kick after Chris Taylor had crudely halted his scuttling run.
Payet, who celebrated by running to embrace Bilic, has been a joy to watch this season, a player whose performances will have left plenty of other clubs cursing the fact they never took a chance to sign him. From that point, it became a question of how many West Ham would score.
Their task became even more straightforward in the 54th minute when Taylor, already booked for felling Payet, left referee Jon Moss with no option but to give him a second yellow card for a crude trip on Moses. For all that Lambert consoled Taylor, he could have no complaint with the decision.
Given there was so much space to exploit, West Ham — who would finish the game with 10 men themselves after Cheikhou Kouyate was surprisingly shown a straight red card following a collision with Adam Henley — could have ended up scoring six or seven on their way to the last eight.
Instead, they had to settle for five. Two went to Emmanuel Emenike, their loan signing from Fenerbahce, one when he slid in Kouyate’s cross in the 64th minute, the second when he latched on to a long ball and waltzed around Steele.
Fittingly, however, the final flourish was applied by Payet. Sprinting half the length of the field, weaving inside and out of two challenges, he crashed a right-foot drive past Steele. It was a glorious moment, one which left Bilic nodding his head in wonder.
‘It is not only what he is doing with the ball,’ his proud manager beamed. ‘He is doing the dirty work as well. I’ve got to get some poetry lessons to describe his importance to us.’
Bilic doesn’t need to. Payet’s twinkling feet are doing all the talking.