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West Ham’s savior, and destroyer; David Martin and Roberto

By Adam Smith

LONDON, ENGLAND - NOVEMBER 30: David Martin of West Ham United celebrates with teammate Fabian Balbuena following the Premier League match between Chelsea FC and West Ham United at Stamford Bridge on November 30, 2019 in London, United Kingdom. (Photo by Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)
LONDON, ENGLAND - NOVEMBER 30: David Martin of West Ham United celebrates with teammate Fabian Balbuena following the Premier League match between Chelsea FC and West Ham United at Stamford Bridge on November 30, 2019 in London, United Kingdom. (Photo by Mike Hewitt/Getty Images) /
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After last season’s Hammer of the Year performance from Lukasz Fabianski in-goal, no West Ham supporter thought any backup keeper would be needed. As it turns out, they both have massively factored in for opposite reasons thus far.

Lukasz Fabianski stole the hearts of West Ham supporters in 2018/2019 after turning from a curious transfer target to club legend in less than a calendar year. When he dropped in an important match away at Bournemouth so to the Hammers’ hopes of a top-six finish. With zero losses since the opening day the Hammers were in great table position but Roberto would see this fate drop.

Roberto

All non-traveling fans were spared and also clouded to bad Roberto was prior to the Fabianski injury. The Oxford highlights from the 4-0 drubbing revealed an interesting fact about Roberto in hindsight: he couldn’t dive. No, seriously, he couldn’t. Shots dribbled by him greeted by a soft wave as they rolled into the net. It was curious and something he clearly worked on. Still, the results didn’t follow.

The breaking point with Roberto was against Burnley when he, and this can’t even be made up, punched the ball into his own net. His performances before this were bad but this move was remarkable, seeing as how he punched in the direction of out, yet the ball went back into his goal.

BURNLEY, ENGLAND – NOVEMBER 09: Ashley Barnes of Burnley scores his team’s first goal past goalkeeper Roberto of West Ham United during the Premier League match between Burnley FC and West Ham United at Turf Moor on November 09, 2019 in Burnley, United Kingdom. (Photo by Alex Livesey/Getty Images)
BURNLEY, ENGLAND – NOVEMBER 09: Ashley Barnes of Burnley scores his team’s first goal past goalkeeper Roberto of West Ham United during the Premier League match between Burnley FC and West Ham United at Turf Moor on November 09, 2019 in Burnley, United Kingdom. (Photo by Alex Livesey/Getty Images) /

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Roberto will be laughed at and remembered in jest as the worst keeper in Premier League history, but in all seriousness, his goalkeeping ended a potentially special season for the Hammers. It also drove us, Irons, into the waiting arms of David Martin.

David Martin

The ultimate player dichotomy for East Londoners David Martin is. Son of former player and West Ham legend Alvin Martin, yet played for Millwall (spit take) as recently as last season. Club allegiances behind, Martin was a keeper and that’s all we were looking for. The bar couldn’t have been lower for him on his Premier League debut, but keeping a clean sheet away at Stamford Bridge when entering the league at 33 years old is pretty spectacular.

Martin’s presence on the pitch has been revolutionary compared to Roberto and the confidence his players have in front of him is palpable and visible. Martin has gone 2-2-0 in his four matches, picking up two clean sheets along the way including the most recent match against Southampton. He isn’t the longterm solution in the backup keeper position but the storyline mixed with his unexpected ability has helped correct the path of a very wayward West Ham.

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Both keepers have had drastically different experiences in the absence of Fabianski. Roberto had every opportunity to succeed but instead singlehandedly tanked his team, leading to his transfer out almost being almost certain. Martin, on the other hand, has inspired everyone who has watched him play and has restored the warm feeling inside the club, albeit for a short time only.