{"id":515468,"date":"2026-04-06T07:48:14","date_gmt":"2026-04-06T07:48:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/515468\/"},"modified":"2026-04-06T07:48:14","modified_gmt":"2026-04-06T07:48:14","slug":"adama-traore-west-hams-best-player-as-joe-cole-gives-verdict-on-superb-winger","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/515468\/","title":{"rendered":"Adama Traore West Ham’s ‘best player’ as Joe Cole gives verdict on ‘superb’ winger"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"\/ Add as preferred source on Google <\/a> <\/p>\n

Adama Traore was certainly a bright spark during West Ham United\u2019s bizarre, occasionally brilliant and ultimately heart-breaking FA Cup defeat by Leeds.<\/p>\n

While so much pre-match was made of the fact that Nuno had to do without Crysencio Summerville<\/a> for a third straight match, the Dutchman\u2019s replacement certainly took his chance at the London Stadium.<\/p>\n

A scintillating performance capped by a quite wonderful assist. Axel Disasi<\/a> opened his account as a flurry of Hammers fans tried to force their way back<\/a> into the stadium, a 96th minute volley set up by a sublime Adama Traore<\/a> cross from the left-hand side.<\/p>\n

What did you make of Adama Traore\u2019s performance? <\/p>\n

Has he won you over?<\/p>\n

\"West <\/p>\n

If all goes to plan, Summerville will be back for Friday\u2019s six-pointer against Wolves. But if he isn\u2019t, at least the West Ham United<\/a> boss knows he can rely upon the \u00a32 million January signing from Fulham to make an impact in Summerville\u2019s absence.<\/p>\n

Adama Traore \u2018superb\u2019 despite West Ham United\u2019s FA Cup exit<\/p>\n

Speaking on TNT Sports<\/a> before captain Jarrod Bowen surprisingly missed in the penalty shoot-out and Pablo Felipe less surprisingly missed in the penalty shoot-out, Ally McCoist was glowing in his praise for the oft-maligned Traore.<\/p>\n

\"AdamaPhoto by Ben Roberts \u2013 Danehouse \/Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll tell you, Traore has been lively. He\u2019s been their best player,\u201d McCoist said through mouthfuls of pie delivered to the commentary booth by Hammers icons Alan Devonshire and Tony Gale. <\/p>\n

The Rangers icon pointed out that, before Traore cut in and curled the cross into Disasi\u2019s path, he had come the width of the post from an almost identical equaliser; Taty Castellanos striking the woodwork with a diving header.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s the ball he\u2019s been playing. I don\u2019t want to take any shine off it \u2013 [Disasi\u2019s] foot is very, very high, it\u2019s extremely high \u2013 but it\u2019s some finish, dear me. It\u2019s a brilliant finish.\u201d<\/p>\n

Joe Cole, who was a Premier League champion with Chelsea the last time West Ham reached the FA Cup semi-finals, called Traore \u2018superb\u2019. A series of flying runs, rolling back the years and showing there is still plenty of thrust in the 30-year-old speed machine.<\/p>\n

Pick your West Ham Man of the Match! <\/p>\n

\u201cFor large parts of that game, West Ham were the better side, but Leeds had grit and determination; they dug in,\u201d Cole added, singling out Lucas Perri following two shoot-out stops to overshadow debutant Finlay Herrick.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd Daniel Farke, what a job he\u2019s done. He has a way of playing; they are together, very much \u2018dig in.\u2019 They needed every ounce of that drive and desire to stay in this game, and they took the opportunity.\u201c<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought West Ham were absolutely unbelievable as the game progressed,\u201d agrees Jermaine Beckford, hero of Leeds\u2019 iconic 1-0 win at Old Trafford in the very same competition in 2010. \u201cThey were fantastic, the better of the two sides. <\/p>\n

\u201cBut Leeds did what Leeds needed to do. I didn\u2019t enjoy it, I\u2019ll be honest!\u201d<\/p>\n

Traore, at least, did give the West Ham fans something to \u2018enjoy\u2019 themselves.<\/p>\n

Join Our Newsletter<\/p>\n

Receive a digest of our best West Ham content each week direct to your mailbox<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Add as preferred source on Google Adama Traore was certainly a bright spark during West Ham United\u2019s bizarre,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":515469,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[133517,2948,218,101840,2240,101,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-515468","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-football","8":"tag-adama-traore","9":"tag-fa-cup","10":"tag-football","11":"tag-joe-cole","12":"tag-leeds-united","13":"tag-sports","14":"tag-uk","15":"tag-united-kingdom","16":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/515468","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=515468"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/515468\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/515469"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=515468"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=515468"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=515468"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}