Can’t defend & won’t attack

Mark Twain famously stated, “There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics.”

I think his inference was that statistics could be massaged to help reinforce a lie. However, the Opta site on X (formerly Twitter) has posted some most troubling but hardly surprising statistics about West Ham. . . and it doesn’t sound unreflective.

Opta Joe wrote, “10 – West Ham have conceded the opening goal in 10 Premier League matches in 2024; the joint-most of any side, alongside Luton.”

That’s an absolute shocker of a statistic but perfectly in keeping with a team that has the joint worst defense outside the Premier League relegation zone. In effect, the stats suggest that we can’t defend at all; we’re horrendous at it.

West Ham can’t defend and won’t attack: Helpless Aguerd watches on as another goal goes in

So why does David Moyes still insist on defending when all the evidence suggests it’s a terrible tactic? During yesterday’s 2-0 defeat to Fulham, Moyes’s first three substitutions when 1-0 behind were Zouma, Johnson, & Soucek.

Yes, the Hammers’ gaffer introduced George Earthy in the 81st minute, but we were 2-0 down by that point.

As pointed out by Marco Silva yesterday, West Ham have some excellent attackers. Unfortunately, the Irons’ manager can’t quite bring himself to shake off the shackles of a career spent being cautious.