Konstantinos Mavropanos injured attempting baffling ‘Phil Jones-style’ head tackle as three West Ham stars forced off
KONTASTINOS Mavropanos was forced off with an injury after attempting a tackle with his head during West Ham’s 2-1 FA Cup defeat to Aston Villa.
New West Ham boss Graham Potter lost three players to injury as his first game in charge of the Hammers ended in defeat.
Mavropanos, 27, threw everything he had at Morgan Rogers in an effort to try and stop the Villa man extending the home side’s lead in the second half.
But while throwing himself at the ball, Mavropanos smashed his head into the side of Rogers’ knee, leaving him in agony on the pitch.
The Greek centre-back couldn’t continue after the nasty knock and was subsequently substituted and replaced by 18-year-old Luis Guilherme.
Fans thought that Mavropanos’ efforts were remarkably similar to former Manchester United star Phil Jones, who had been known to put his body on the line in the past.
On social media, one wrote: “Mavropanos thinking he’s Phil Jones for a brief moment, but lacking the master skillset”.
While another added: “Mavropanos has gone full ‘Phil Jones’ there. Not surprisingly he’s injured.”
Mavropanos wasn’t the only West Ham man to leave the pitch with injury either.
Graham Potter confirmed that both Crysensio Summerville and Niclas Fullkrug also picked up injuries during the game.
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The new Hammers boss explained how losing the pair had an impact on their ability to play their game.
He said: “Obviously losing Summerville and losing Fullkrug had an influence on the attacking part of our game.
“And then there was more pressure than anything, rather than big chances.”
Adding: “We had to adjust without them. So that affected out attacking play a little bit.
“And then Aston Villa just pushed us back a bit and we ended up a little bit too deep, deeper than we wanted.
“And then with the ball, we couldn’t sustain enough attacks to be able to relieve some pressure”.
Aston Villa turned round a 1-0 deficit to advance to the FA Cup fourth round thanks to goals from Amadou Onana and Morgan Rogers.