West Ham boss praises Diamanti's improved performances
Gianfranco Zola has praised Alessandro Diamanti's improvement since his move to West Ham United.
Diamanti has scored six goals in 19 Premier League appearances since joining the Hammers from Livorno last summer and impressed again in Saturday's 3-0 win over Hull City.
"Although I have very good players, I keep him playing all the time because I know he can do something special for us at any moment and it is important to have players like that," said Zola.
"You have to be on your toes when you play against him because he can score at any moment.
"That is a big thing, confidence wise, for the whole team. It is a big thing for me knowing that on the pitch I have a player who can score at any time.
"He is probably the only one crazy enough to try and score from his own half. Sometimes he does the unpredictable things. He also does unpredictable mistakes as I used to. That is the kind of player he is.
"But what is surprising me about him is that his work-rate is fantastic. He is also playing in a position where he has never played before. In Italy, he used to play second striker or maybe behind the two strikers in the hole.
"He didn't work very hard defensively, but now he works very hard for us and is massive for the team."
Tribalfootball Store
- home
- News
- Leagues
- A-League
- Argentine Primera División
- English Premier League
- Football League One
- French Ligue 2
- German Bundesliga 2
- Scottish Premier League
- Swiss Challenge League
- Swiss Super League
- Belgian First Division
- Brazil Serie B
- Campeonato Brasileiro Série A
- Chinese Super League
- English Championship
- Eredivisie
- German Bundesliga
- Italian Serie A
- Italian Serie B
- Italian Serie C1
- J-League
- Ligue 1
- MLS
- Portuguese Liga
- Prva HNL
- Russian Premier League
- Segunda División
- Segunda División B
- Spanish Liga
- Super League Greece
- Turkish Super Lig
- transfer news
- Results & Fixtures
- football store
- video games
Results & Fixtures
Matches
| Home | Away | Score | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fri Feb 17th | |||
| Reading | Burnley | - | 20:00 |
| Sat Feb 18th | |||
| Crystal Palace | Watford | - | 15:00 |
| Leeds United | Doncaster Rovers | - | 15:00 |
| Hull City | Brighton & Hove Albion | - | 15:00 |
| Millwall | Middlesbrough | - | 15:00 |
| Peterborough United | Bristol City | - | 15:00 |
| Barnsley | Portsmouth | - | 15:00 |
| Ipswich Town | Cardiff City | - | 15:00 |
| Reading | Burnley | - | 15:00 |
| Nottingham Forest | Coventry City | - | 15:00 |
| Southampton | Derby County | - | 15:00 |
| Blackpool | West Ham United | - | 15:00 |
| Leicester City | Birmingham City | - | 15:00 |
| Tue Feb 21st | |||
| Millwall | Middlesbrough | - | 19:45 |
| Blackpool | West Ham United | - | 20:00 |
| Wed Feb 22nd | |||
| Hull City | Brighton & Hove Albion | - | 19:45 |
| Tue Mar 13th | |||
| Leicester City | Birmingham City | - | 19:45 |
Tables
| Team | P | W | D | L | GD | PTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| West Ham United | 30 | 17 | 6 | 7 | 16 | 57 |
| Southampton | 31 | 16 | 8 | 7 | 22 | 56 |
| Cardiff City | 31 | 14 | 11 | 6 | 14 | 53 |
| Blackpool | 31 | 14 | 10 | 7 | 14 | 52 |
| Birmingham City | 30 | 14 | 9 | 7 | 20 | 51 |
| Reading | 30 | 15 | 6 | 9 | 11 | 51 |
| Hull City | 30 | 15 | 5 | 10 | 6 | 50 |
| Middlesbrough | 30 | 13 | 11 | 6 | 4 | 50 |
| Brighton & Hove Albion | 31 | 14 | 7 | 10 | 3 | 49 |
| Burnley | 31 | 14 | 5 | 12 | 8 | 47 |
| Leeds United | 31 | 13 | 6 | 12 | 3 | 45 |
| Leicester City | 31 | 11 | 9 | 11 | 5 | 42 |
| Derby County | 30 | 12 | 6 | 12 | -4 | 42 |
| Crystal Palace | 30 | 10 | 10 | 10 | -1 | 40 |
| Watford | 31 | 10 | 10 | 11 | -7 | 40 |
| Barnsley | 30 | 11 | 6 | 13 | -6 | 39 |
| Ipswich Town | 30 | 11 | 4 | 15 | -10 | 37 |
| Portsmouth | 30 | 9 | 8 | 13 | 1 | 35 |
| Peterborough United | 30 | 9 | 7 | 14 | -4 | 34 |
| Millwall | 31 | 7 | 10 | 14 | -11 | 31 |
| Bristol City | 31 | 8 | 7 | 16 | -19 | 31 |
| Coventry City | 31 | 6 | 7 | 18 | -16 | 25 |
| Nottingham Forest | 30 | 7 | 4 | 19 | -25 | 25 |
| Doncaster Rovers | 29 | 6 | 6 | 17 | -24 | 24 |
Related Stories
- Jan 27 Ex-Man Utd keeper Carroll lands plumb Olympiacos deal
- Feb 14 West Ham boss Allardyce will introduce ex-Man Utd starlet Morrison slowly
- Feb 14 Ex-Man Utd starlet Morrison says Twitter controversy sparked by racist abuse
- Feb 14 West Ham target Newcastle fullback Ferguson
- Feb 14 Joyce explains Hull loan signing King returning to Man Utd
Popular Stories
- Feb 14 Ronaldo hands Florentino Real Madrid contract nightmare
- Feb 14 Real Madrid coach Mourinho prepared to replace Casillas with new keeper signing
- Feb 14 Man Utd agreement for Gaitan still watertight with Benfica
- Feb 14 Man City rebel Tevez: Man Utd stars, Ferguson are the BEST!
- Feb 14 Chelsea players attacked AVB, Cech in crisis meeting


Post new comment