David Moyes blame game

David Moyes blame game

David Moyes‘ ability to view West Ham’s failings with utter detachment never ceases to amaze me. He has the habit of commenting about the team’s on-field mishaps as if he has played no part in the proceedings whatsoever.

Last night’s declaration that the second goal was the result of woeful defending placed the blame firmly on the team. The main culprit in the second goal was Tomas Soucek, who was completely ill-suited to play in such a game.

Liverpool played a high-pressing tactic which posed a puzzle with two answers: either hoof the ball long to a target man up front or play one-touch football and work through the press. Last night at Anfield, West Ham couldn’t do the former, and had players ill-suited to do the latter.

Soucek to blame for two goals

This left Soucek chasing shadows, and quite frankly, he wasn’t up to the job. The Czech midfielder hardly ever gets a rest, and it showed. He was directly responsible for two of the goals, but realistically, he shouldn’t have been playing. I’ve lost count of the number of games Soucek has started for West Ham, and he hardly ever gets substituted.

For both Curtis Jones and Cody Gakpo’s goals, Soucek gave up. He stopped running, failed to track them, and looked totally fed up with the job he’d been asked to do. So David Moyes has got some nerve pointing the finger of blame because he was directly responsible.

It was Moyes who decided to loan out Flynn Downes, Moyes who has played Soucek twice per week through a period of intense fixture congestion. And it was David Moyes who selected Soucek to play in a midfield that was always going to need to pass quickly and be light on their feet.

So yes, Mr. Moyes, the defending was woeful. But selection and tactics played the biggest part of all