It is puzzling that West Ham manager David Moyes hasn’t rotated his players after his comments from last season.
West Ham manager David Moyes has provided explanations for the factors that led to the Hammers’ relegation in several interviews. In conclusion, West Ham’s small roster and lack of players the manager was willing to use off the bench. Which caused them to be exhausted towards the end of the previous season.
Moyes would occasionally utilise Said Benrahma or Ben Johnson. And rarely Yarmolenko, but the West Ham manager would use these large players for the most of the games. Of course, there were big-money additions like Nicola Vlasic on the bench, but the boss seemed to prefer underused loanee Alex Kral.
Jarrod Bowen, Declan Rice, Tomas Soucek, Aaron Cresswell, and Michail Antonio were all operating on low energy levels towards the end of the season. With David Moyes failing to rotate his players once more, West Ham appears to be repeating their error from the previous campaign.
We can observe a decline in energy levels for ourselves; we don’t need statistics or OPTA stats to confirm it. In contrast to the early pressing and high intensity game plan utilised against Arsenal and Gent, compare the low energy, non-pressing tactics used against Crystal Palace.
The Hammers Played At Selhurst Park
After bringing the score back to 3-2 just before halftime, West Ham was unable to produce a single shot on goal in the second half, which says it all. According to Glenn Hoddle in the commentary, West Ham just don’t have enough possession in games to be a persistent danger in open play.
Under Moyes, West Ham often has far less possession than their opponent. Additionally, in general, about half of the passes. At Palace, where the Hammers made nearly 200 fewer passes, it happened again. On a crucial worry at West Ham that has been a significant problem for far too long, Moyes concurs with Hoddle.
Naturally, none of this is required. It was possible to substitute and rest Downes, Kehrer, Emerson, Ings, Ogbonna, and Lanzini. The players are present, but Moyes seemed unwilling to deploy them. Since it is more in line with what they anticipate from the team, it undoubtedly got the fans off of the manager’s back.
But this was the previous Palace-West Ham matchup. And everyone at the club should be really concerned about it given the amount of work that has to be done in order to survive. Whatever transpires before then, the team’s inability to come together. And play in a more sophisticated manner might play a significant role in determining the manager’s fate come the summer.
