The French Revelations
PAYET READY FOR SHOWDOWN WITH CABAYE
DIMITRI PAYET has nothing to prove in his Gallic midfield battle with Yohan Cabaye today, Slaven Bilic has claimed.
And the West Ham boss insisted his £10.7million summer signing is good enough to play in any international team in the world.
Both France stars have enjoyed great starts to the season with their new high-flying clubs.
But Payet this week complained it is “unjust” that he is being left out of a France squad which contains Crystal Palace’s Cabaye.
The former Marseille playmaker, who has four goals and three assists for the Irons, has not been picked for Les Bleus since getting hauled off at half- time in June’s defeat to Albania. Didier Deschamps’ side have won all four friendlies since then as they prepare to host the Euro 2016 Finals.
Former Croatia coach Bilic ( left) said: “Every player wants to play for his country and Payet’s a great player – he was my first target here.
“I admire him as he works hard and has proved himself every game. He has great quality and, for me, could play in any national side.
“I’ve been an international manager, but I don’t want to push the players if I don’t know the full situation.
“It is Didier Deschamps’ job, they have many great players.
“But it is hard to find a Dimitri Payet. He does not have to show what he can do against Palace – he has shown enough.”
Bilic added: “Cabaye, of course, is a great player. He was a kind of cherry on the top for Crystal Palace this season. They did a great job in signing him.”
Eagles manager Alan Pardew believes Connor Wickham will offer the same threat as “unplayable” Andy Carroll when he returns from injury. The former Newcastle chief, who sold Carroll to Liverpool for £ 35m, said: “Andy’s unplayable at times.
“There aren’t many strikers who are completely unplayable, but he’s one of them.
“I see a lot of similarities between Connor and Andy.
“I don’t think Connor will ever be quite as powerful in the air as Andy is, but he has got a bit more pace and technical play that can equal Andy. I amm
hoping he gets to the same level as Andy when he comes back.”
The London derby sees a clash between the teams fourth and sixth in the Premier League – and Bilic hopes his Hammers can carry on their good form from before the international break.
Bilic said: “You can’t stop players losing momentum. You can try to press a pause button and then restart it when they come back.
“But even on the best DVDs, when you press pause, you can’t make a meal but you can make a sandwich.
“Then after one minute it automatically starts again and you have to rush back to it.
“Today we have to restart it again and I hope that we can do it.”