Mohamadou Kanté went from potential villain to Hammers folk hero in about ten seconds at The Den. Now we know the bill for that late professional foul: one Championship match. He sits out QPR after the international break, then he’s back for Lincoln.
Denying an obvious goalscoring opportunity is a straight red and an automatic one-gamer in the EFL. No nonsense. No three-match scare story. Just a clean call from Paul Tierney’s report, and we move on.
Plenty of us still had the first half stuck in our teeth going into Sunday. We were soft, imprecise, and second to every scrap. Nuno said as much. Bowen said as much. The site has already chewed over that embarrassment. This is different. This is about what Kanté did when the derby was at the stage of a thrilling end.
He came off the bench, smashed in a stunning strike from range to drag us back into it, then — after his own heavy touch invited Kyrell Lisbie through — hauled him down as the last man. Yes, he created the mess. Yes, he cleaned it up. That is the sort of selfish-for-the-team decision supporters remember when the opposition is Millwall and the score is 2-2 in stoppage time.
We would rather not miss him for another London derby. QPR will be another scrap, and Kanté has looked sharper when Nuno uses him as an advanced presence rather than burying him deep. But losing him for one game beats watching him banned for a stretch while we try to stay in the promotion scrap. Character got us a point we barely deserved at half-time. Character will matter more than polish between now and May.
If there is a cloud hanging over the West Ham this week, it is not Kanté’s ban. It is the separate allegation around Taty Castellanos and Millwall’s keeper — which video evidence still proves nothing and if anything, may lead to the fingers being pointed at the Lions keeper.
