Payet defends his ‘disrespectful’ Rabona

Daniel Storey

Dimitri Payet has defended using skill against Watford, after being criticised for being ‘disrepectful’.

Watford captain Troy Deeney said that Payet’s Rabona cross for Michail Antonio’s second goal inspired his team to victory.

“West Ham tried to mug us off. They started doing the flicks and the tricks after 30 minutes,” Deeney said.

“You can appreciate good skill and that was great skill for the second goal, but as a professional you cannot allow someone to do that to you.

“You see that in the playground with six and seven-year-olds, and we are grown men. I can appreciate a Rabona when a team is 5-0 up with ten minutes to go but not when it makes it 2-0 and we’re still in the first half. It felt disrespectful.”

Payet has defended the use of the skill, saying that it was merely instinctive. More importantly, it bloody worked.

“It was something that came instinctively to me at that time in the game,” he told West Ham‘s official website.

“I thought that it was the best thing to do at that moment and I did it and it worked. When it works, the skill becomes even more impressive.

“I have come back with the same ambitions that I had last season.

“I want to do the best I can on the pitch and to perform as I know I can both with my club and the national side.”

We liked Payet’s skill, which will come as some consolation to him. We even gave it an award.