Modibo Maiga scored a brace for West Ham United this weekend and set up midfield star Mo Diame for another in a 3-0 pre-season win over German outfit Eintracht Braunschweig in the last game of their German tour.
The Mali international didn’t know much about his first goal on 22 minutes when a clearance was hit straight at Maiga and looped over the Eintracht goalkeeper to make it 1-0 the The Hammers.
Maiga then set up Mo Diame to score West Ham’s second when a strong run and cross allowed Diame to finish with a cheeky little back heel to make it 2-0 to the side in claret and blue.
The strikers third goal showed good anticipation and goal scoring instincts when he latched on to a loose back pass which Maiga promptly intercepted and rounded the Eintracht goalkeeper to slot home into an empty net wrapping up a 3-0 win for West Ham United in the final game of the clubs German tour.
McDonald praise for Maiga
West Ham United assistant manager Neil McDonald heaped praise on the Mali striker after the game, speaking to WHUFC.com he said:
Modibo is in the team to score goals and interlink and that side of his game was much better than it has been,” McDonald said. “He was running in behind and causing problems, which is great to see as it stretches teams. It was a huge improvement on the last few games we’ve played.
Modibo’s ability is there as we paid a fair bit of money for him. When you sign new players sometimes they take a bit longer to settle into the team. He’s just been waiting for his chance to show what he can do and hopefully he can score goals on a regular basis, try to work out where we want him to run to, hold the ball up and interlink. He’s got one hell of a chance to start the season.
Maiga did not really get a chance to shine last season after his transfer from Sochaux with Andy Carroll being first choice in the central strikers role, when Maiga did get a chance it was usually out of position on the wing.
With Carroll being injured and likely to miss to first part of the season this could be Maiga’s chance to stake a claim for a starting berth and provide quality backup for Carroll or indeed to partner Carroll up front for West Ham.
West Ham have been linked with numerous strikers over the last week and this was the perfect time for Maiga to show Allardyce that he may already have a quality striker in the squad.
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