Di Canio's antics are wearing thin

Ken Dyer13 April 2012
West Ham 1 Aston Villa 1

Revelations that Paolo Di Canio could hotfoot it back to Italy in the New Year unless he is offered a new contract are as pitiful as his second-half penalty attempt against Aston Villa.

Reports apparently suggest that the self-indulgent Italian could return home unless West Ham open talks about a new contract when his existing deal ends in June 2003.

West Ham say they have heard nothing from anyone but after Di Canio had caressed his 66th-minute spot kick straight to Villa's Finnish goalkeeper Peter Enckelman there were around 28,000 fans who would have cheerfully had a whip-round for the plane fare.

West Ham's first-half performance, after conceding a goal inside the opening minute, was nothing short of lamentable but Glenn Roeder's side at least fought back after the break to create, and miss, a string of chances.

If Di Canio had converted the penalty, after Jermain Defoe was brought down by Olof Mellberg, West Ham would have probably gone on to take all three points.

Mere mortals would have smashed the ball past Villa's stand-in keeper, but not show-pony Paolo. What would he do, we wondered? Try the chip as he has done in the past, back-heel it in, lob the ball against the crossbar and then bounce the rebound off both shoulders before breaking wind and blowing the damn thing in?

In the event, no one had a clue what Di Canio was trying to do. The end result, though, was probably the worst penalty seen at Upton Park.

Enckelman wasn't wearing a cap but he almost had enough time to pop back into the dressing-room for it before throwing it over the ball.

It was typical Di Canio, and for West Ham fans all the gestures, the sagging shoulders, collapsing to the ground and the rest of his histrionic repertoire is beginning to wear a little thin.

At his best the Italian is one of the most talented footballers to have played for the club but those virtuoso days are becoming rarer. Perhaps he should forget about agitating for a new contract and concentrate of fulfilling his present one.

It would be unfair, though, to put all the blame for West Ham's pathetic first-half showing on Di Canio's shoulders. Dion Dublin's headed goal, inside a minute, so unhinged Roeder's side that they hardly strung together two passes for the rest of the half and had it not been for a wonderful save from David James in the 40th minute, again from Dublin, the game would have been beyond them.

Teenage striker Jermain Defoe was the one West Ham player who should be exempt from criticism in that dreadful first 45 minutes. With Di Canio on walkabout, Michael Carrick sitting deep and Don Hutchison once again looking listless, Defoe was usually on his own up front but still made a nuisance of himself.

In the second half, with Di Canio helping him out, Defoe was superb and thoroughly deserved his goal.

It was a long time coming but eventually, deep into injury-time, Defoe drove a shot beyond Enckelman into the far corner.

"Jermain is still young but that was a man's performance. The little fellow was magnificent all night," Roeder said. "In the first half he was up there on his own but when Paolo played up there with him he was even better."

With a visit to Old Trafford on Saturday followed by a home game against Arsenal and dates with both Liverpool and Leeds, this promises to be a testing month for West Ham.

Frederic Kanoute's return cannot come quick enough and a potential partnership with Defoe looks exciting.

It is at the other end, however, where most of West Ham's problems continue to lie. The ease with which Dublin beat Tomas Repka to head Villa's goal was symptomatic of the team's deficiences and Roeder knows that, until he can find a dominating central defender, his side will continue to concede similar goals.

Roeder feels his side should have picked up six points from their last two games against Sunderland and Villa. "We feel hard done by that we haven't won them both but you have to take your chances," he said.

"I asked the players at half-time to start taking some responsibility and they carried out the orders tremendously well. They played with a lot of courage."

Roeder also said that Di Canio would continue to take the penalties. "You just try and get the ball off him," said the West Ham manager.

The other option is not to let him have it in the first place.

West Ham v Villa - match stats
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