Paqueta guilty of shocking miss
By Hughie Southon
Beyond Mikey’s fine goals and desperately unlucky hat trick attempt I’m afraid nothing that happened in Cyprus against Larnaca eased my Hammers anxieties.
It was a strange game with the home side being awarded 14 corners during a match in which we had none but were 2-0 winners.
Joe Cole made the same point as many of us – the first 30 minutes saw as bad as we usually are in that period with no cohesion or offensive creative stuff going on at all.
Had it been a Premier League match we would almost certainly have been punished with the situation remaining the same as we have seen so many times this season.
We have heard time and again by the manager that it’s something we need to sort but that we can’t do so against a Cypriot side which is nothing more than neat and tidy is very worrying for me.
Of equal concern was to see the likes of Soucek and Paqueta coming on from the bench and looking way off the pace.
Paqueta’s miss from Cornet’s great ball forward – a top moment for the player and us – was awful.
Hopefully we got a confidence boost from winning but the manager explained he was unimpressed – for once I agree with him.
Last night showed us the same old failings!
I thought we started slowly as there were players coming back from injury and also players who should be playing more that were taking some time to get up to speed. But once we did we went 2 up and were comfortable until Moyes made changes. I thought Soucek and Bowen offered absolutely nothing when they came on, we will be relegated if Moyes continues playing them. I would not be too harsh on Scamacca as again he is just getting back up to speed. For all fans the game is a must win, anything else and Moyes has to go. From the body language of all the players last night they want him gone.