West Ham star praised for ‘world beater’ international performance that could spark revival
Konstantinos Mavropanos has come in for praise following his performance in Greece’s shock 2-1 win over England on Thursday.
The Blues and Whites took full advantage of a disjointed, shambolic England performance, with a Vagelis Pavlidis brace delivering their first-ever victory at Wembley.
In reality, the nature of England’s defending meant Greece should have won by a bigger margin and had multiple goals disallowed following VAR review.
But despite their effectiveness on the break, Greece still had to do their fair share of defending.
West Ham man Mavropanos spearheaded that rearguard effort, registering four clearances, three recoveries, two tackles and one interception, while winning two of his three aerial duels and all three ground duels.
Konstantinos Mavropanos puts in ‘world beater’ performance vs England
Mavropanos’ performance at Wembley certainly caught the eye of former Arsenal defender Lee Dixon.
“Mavropanos looks like a world beater today,” the ITV Sport commentator said (via TBR).
“Most of the build-up play [from Greece] he’s not really involved physically but he’s commanding the midfield players in front of him.
“But anytime the ball comes near him in the box, the ball seems to hit him at some point. Positionally he’s been very good.”
Mavropanos started each of West Ham’s first five Premier League games of the season, while he was used as a half-time substitute in the 1-1 draw with Brentford before sitting out the 4-1 win over Ipswich Town.
Julen Lopetegui appears to be trying to form a partnership between summer arrivals Max Kilman and Jean-Clair Todibo.
However, Mavropanos will hope this excellent showing at Wembley can catch the eye of Lopetegui ahead of West Ham’s trip to Tottenham Hotspur a week on Saturday.
Top photo by Ryan Pierse/Getty Images
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