There were a lot of positives to take out of the 4-1 win over Ipswich at the weekend.
The team finally looked like it was getting to grips of what Julen Lopetegui was asking of them, we were dangerous going forward and, for the most part, the defence looked the most solid its been for some time.
It wasn’t perfect, by any stretch, and against better or experienced opposition it would’ve been a harder game and likely a closer scoreline, but it was still refreshing to see things beginning to work after so many disjointed and frustrating performances that we saw in the opening couple of months of the season.
One of the biggest positives that stood out was Jean-Clair Todibo‘s performance alongside Max Kilman, as he kept the impressive Liam Delap quiet for the majority of the game.
Despite a slow start to life in east London, the Frenchman is beginning to look incredibly impressive in the centre of defence and, alongside the already impressive Kilman, it seems we’ve got a really exciting and solid centre-back partnership in the making.
And on this week’s episode of The West Ham Breakdown podcast, hosts and West Ham tactical experts, Jack Elderton and Callum Goodall, singled out Todibo’s impressive performance against Ipswich and also noticed a very exciting tactical benefit of having both Todibo and Kilman in the team and playing well.
What they noticed about how the likes of Todibo and Kilman can be crucial to West Ham’s build up play is another sign that things are beginning to take shape under Lopetegui.
They said: “It’s a partnership that I’m really excited to see blossom.
“I have no doubts that Kilman and Todibo are complimentary. I think we saw in the first half an hour that the relationship with Todibo and Wan-Bissaka is not quite as developed as the one with Kilman yet. I think in part that’s partly tactical as well and the decision-making that’s being asked of them.
“But I think as that goes, they’ll learn how to play with each other, they’ll learn the styles, they’ll have more confidence in each other, so they’ll probably feel more confident passing off, even if it isn’t the tactical thing, it’s just the right thing to do in football in terms.
“And I think we saw with those sort of direct clipped balls up the line as well, I think that’s going to be such an exciting option.
“I think there was the one where it was straight into Antonio’s chest and he just bounced it off. And I was like, if we can be hitting them a few times a game, particularly if we’re going to look to be creating so many chances with wide creations, with link ups between the wing backs and the winger and the striker peeling over as well, or the central midfielder on that side getting involved.
“If you can also then bring the centre back into that as the sort of starter of the move, that’s such a plus because one of those players doesn’t necessarily have to drop to start the move itself. All three of them can be up there from the off.
“It makes it easy to win the second balls and we won so many of them because of this exact reason. Fullkrug will love those situations as well. It would be so perfect for Fullkrug dropping just below his head so that he can bring the ball down and lay it off the teammates.
“When you look and you’ve got Kilman on the left that’s already been doing that most of the season, to have two players that can offer the same thing on either side in possession it’s going to be such a bonus for us.
“To think of how far we’ve come in terms of the centre backs. We started last season getting so excited about the fact that Nayef Aguerd might be able to do a couple of line breaking passes every game. Now we’ve got a duo doing 50-yard dribbles, taking on three-men and laying it off. Come on now, that’s so exciting.
“And we know Kilman can do it as well because he’s already done it twice this season, so yeah, the distances we’ve travelled and the players we’ve got now is really exciting and I think perfect timing as we go into two pretty tricky fixtures after the international break.
“Just looks like money well spent on those players.”
And on Todibo specifically, the hosts were particularly impressed and noted the perceived intelligence in his game that will benefit West Ham this season.
“We thought Todibo was a long shot.
“But he looks really confident now, which is exactly what we need him to be.
“And confidence is a really important part of discussing him, because just to return to that decision to drop off a little bit against Delap, I just love the intelligence of it, but also the confidence of, ‘I know exactly what you’re going to do, mate. I’ve worked you out in 10 minutes.’”