Hammers loss was completely avoidable as Moyes goes ultra defensive
West Ham seemed overly defensive against Europa League adversaries SC Freiburg. Despite David Moyes having already bested them twice this season, our defensive stance was unwarranted against a German side who were pretty poor.
I completely understood the initial defensive approach in the opening 20 minutes, as Freiburg huffed and puffed to try and break us down. West Ham began to establish control, yet the anticipated attacking substitutions from Moyes failed to materialise. It was an opportunity missed in my opinion, and at at point where it would have been easy to close the tie down.
Bringing on Michail Antonio in the 91st minute proved both ineffectual and disrespectful to the player. Furthermore, swapping James Ward-Prowse for Kalvin Phillips immediately after conceding a goal sent entirely the wrong signal.
Hammers loss was completely avoidable as Moyes went defensive
West Ham ought to have gone on the front-foot, but it seemed as though Moyes settled for a 1-0 loss. Whilst this might be understandable under normal circumstances, Freiburg lacked confidence and were ripe for the taking.
Nonetheless, I maintain confidence that West Ham will advance to the Europa League quarter-finals. I anticipate victory at The London Stadium next Thursday, a sentiment I’m sure Moyes shares. However, the entire situation could have been easily avoided.
You are correct and on every level Moyes showed again that contrary to popular belief he is in fact a terrible manager. In addition to insulting Antonio he took the (best) youngsters (in Europe) along in order that could understand they would never get played during his tenure but could go elsewhere if they like, for example Liverpool or Citeh, where would they earn more money and stand a better chance of being played. How long are we going to continually say they same things and have to put with the same Moyes mistakes?