Detached Moyes seemed puzzled by players fatigue
I must confess that I didn’t see a thrashing by Fulham on the horizon this weekend. However, what was utterly predictable was David Moyes‘ use of fixture congestion as an excuse following the humbling.
I guess there may be some merit in what Moyes is saying, given the unpredictable Premier League results we’ve had during the last week. But Moyes has less cause for complaint than most because he doesn’t rotate his squad.
Detached Moyes seemed puzzled by players fatigue
The Hammers manager has flogged players such as James Ward-Prowse, Tomas Soucek, Mohammed Kudus, and Lucas Paqueta so hard that they looked dead on their feet at Craven Cottage. I totally respect Moyes’ wish to deploy his favourite players from the start, but they are not even given a rest for 20 minutes during games.
The fixtures against Tottenham and Crystal Palace preceded yesterday’s game against Fulham. During both matches, Moyes made a solitary token substitution in the 87th minute. High-flying Aston Villa made FOUR substitutions whilst beating Arsenal. Emery’s first sub was at half-time and was closely followed by another on 56 minutes.
Remarkably, Moyes seemed to view the fatigue levels of the West Ham squad with detachment, as if it were somehow an unfortunate occurrence in which he’d played no part. Put simply… the players are knackered because Moyes doesn’t rest them. Unsurprisingly, this is not a tactic copied by his contemporaries.