West Ham’s monster defender gives Jose Mourinho ‘Deja vu’

Jose Mourinho has said that he got a sense of ‘Deja Vu‘ after West Ham beat his Tottenham side 2-1 at the London Stadium. Spurs were unable to find an equaliser because of the spirited performances from Craig Dawson and Issa Diop.

Diop is starting to haunt the Portuguese manager. Mourinho was in charge of Manchester United during West Ham’s stunning 3-1 victory in 2018. After the match, Mourinho called Diop a ‘monster’ as he put in a man of the match performance.

Yet again, the manager was foiled by the 24-year-old. Diop was superb in the defence; he has formed a solid partnership with Craig Dawson since Angelo Ogbonna’s injury. The defender made two tackles, one interception, five clearances and blocked two shots in the 90 minutes.

Jose Mourinho has praised West Ham defender’s Issa Diop and Craig Dawson after their performances against his Tottenham side.

West Ham scored their goals at the start of each half to put themselves in control of the match. Spurs did get one back from a Lucas Moura header after Aaron Cresswell lost him at a corner. The centre-backs, in Jose’s words, were both ‘brilliant’ for the whole match.

"“That is my feeling and a little bit of deja vu. Their defensive line was brilliant. Their centre-backs gave us a very difficult match. We started the game with a mistake and started the second half with another one,”Jose Mourinho told SkySports"

Mourinho must be starting to have a serious dislike for Diop as he keeps being foiled by the defender. To make matters worse for the manager, the performance was probably Diop’s best one for two years. Mourinho also was rumoured to be interested in signing the defender for Tottenham, but no deal ever materialised.

Diop will be happy with his short spell back in the team. The defender appeared to be in limbo because of the form of Craig Dawson and Angelo Ogbonna. But Ogbonna’s injury has handed the club’s most expensive defender a lifeline.

David Moyes was desperate to sign a big name centre-back last summer but settled for Dawson on loan, a move that has worked out very well. It would have been expected that Moyes would have gone back for a new defender, but Diop’s form could have him thinking twice.