---
title: "Issa Diop admits he’s pleased with his start at West Ham"
canonical: "https://readwestham.com/2018/10/01/issa-diop-admits-hes-pleased-with-his-start-at-west-ham/"
type: "post"
language: "en-GB"
author: "Abdullah Mulla"
section: "West Ham News"
published: "2018-10-01T14:32:05Z"
modified: "2018-10-01T14:32:05Z"
---

# Issa Diop admits he’s pleased with his start at West Ham

West Ham United centre-back Issa Diop has admitted that he has had to adapt very quickly to the demands of the Premier League after joining the club during the summer.

Diop has established his position in the starting XI under Manuel Pellegrini and has earned plenty of praise in recent weeks.

The defender has already had some difficult tests up against Chelsea forward Olivier Giroud and Manchester United striker Romelu Lukaku, but he has handled them superbly well.

![Warren Little/Getty Images Sport](https://media.readwestham.com/readwestham/2018/10/1042820318.jpg)

The 21-year-old joined the Hammers from French side Toulouse and has hardly had time to settle in, which he claims has helped him to improve very quickly.

He is eager to keep getting better and believes that playing against more top strikers will help him to do so.

As quoted on the official club [website](https://www.whufc.com/news/articles/2018/october/01-october/diop-im-learning-quickly), he said:

> It is good my confidence – we’ve come up against Olivier Giroud for Chelsea last week and Romelu Lukaku this. I think I’ve played a normal game and I need to improve and work hard to play better.

> I need to adapt \[to the Premier League\], but in football, you don’t have the time so you need to learn quickly and play well from the first day. I needed to be ready from the start.

> The Premier League is faster and it is box-to-box. In France, the teams don’t go full in the attack, but here all the strikers, the wingers are strong, physical and quick. It’s not that easy to defend against.

> Scoring against Wimbledon was for sure a good moment for me. If I didn’t score, it would have been the same, I would have continued to work hard and have confidence in myself. That’s all – I try to do my best on the pitch.

Diop has formed a very good partnership with Fabian Balbuena in recent weeks and Pellegrini seems to have worked out his best starting XI after a difficult start to the season.