Mohammed Kudus was the star of the show as West Ham beat Lincoln City 1-0 in their EFL Cup clash last night.
Pundit Stephen Kelly gave his thoughts on Kudus’ performance on the Football daily Podcast.
While David Moyes will be delighted with his team’s progress, they would have preferred to have won by a bigger margin. They had to wait until 70 minutes to take advantage of a mistake by Tomas Soucek to open the scoring.
Moyes opted to rest a number of key players, but still had plenty of quality to work with.
It was Kostas Mavropanos’ first start of the season, and he will be pleased to have kept a clean sheet.
Maxwel Cornet made a surprise return to the starting line-up for his 27th birthday, but it was Kudus who was the star of the show in West Ham’s 1-0 win over Lincoln. It’s no shock that Kudus, who impressed in last season’s Champions League campaign, was at it again against a League One outfit. Moyes will now be forced to make a serious move for Kudus at the weekend. “Mohammed Kudus was outstanding, I think he’ll be pushing for a place in the first team over the next couple of weeks or so,” Kelly said after West Ham’s win over Lincoln.
He will be a key player for them in the upcoming season. He is exceptional in the small details, his movement, his shoulders, his scanning off the ball, and his body positioning when he receives the ball, even if he is on the blindside. He manipulates the ball into a spot where he can draw a foul. When he started driving with the ball, he was playing as a central midfield player off the front, and then went out onto the right-wing. He was the best player, the most talented, and someone I look forward to seeing in the Premier League more often.
It’s unlikely that facing Lincoln will prove to be Kudus’ toughest challenge in a West Ham jersey this season. Moyes has been effusive in his praise of Kudus, who has already formed a strong bond with one of his teammates who has yet to make his debut.
The Hammers must make it a priority to help Kudus settle into life at the London Stadium. If they can help him live up to his full potential, he could be one of the summer’s best signings.
