Angelo a leading Hammer
DAVID MOYES believes Angelo Ogbonna is getting better with age.
And the West Ham boss wants the big Italian centre-back to be remembered as a player who helped provide good times by fans when he finally leaves the club.
Ogbonna has been a Hammer for six years. Always regarded as solid and good in the air, there were occasional lapses of concentration in the defender’s game that mirrored West Ham’s perennial uncertainty in defence.
But as the ball arrowed into the West Ham penalty area time and time again in the closing stages of Saturday’s clash, as Burnley vainly attempted to wrest something from the game, unerrlngly it seemed to meet the head of the immaculately-placed Ogbonna, or if not, then the rugged Craig Dawson.
It was Ogbonna who marshalled a Hammers defence who might have crumbled a year ago against the onslaught, Ogbonna who issued the orders, Ogbonna who was strong against the likes of the burly Chris Wood, the physical Ashley Barnes.
Moyes seems to have sorted out those lapses – because this shut out made it four clean sheets in a row, as his team moved into ninth place in the Premier League.
The Scot said: “Angelo is a leader and a big member of this squad, like Mark Noble and Declan Rice. When his career finishes we want people to talk about something good at West Ham.
“Over the season you have to win games 1-0. It was a day where I needed my defenders to stand up and be counted – and Angelo and Craig Dawson did that. They were magnificent.
West Ham should have won by a bigger margin. Burnley, until the later stages when they threw men forward, offered worryingly little for Sean Dyche.
The Hammers took the lead when Pablo Fornals crossed, the Burnley defence all missed the ball, and Michail Antonio, outstanding all game, superbly slotted home.