Inconsistent Moyes’ confusing message

Moyes’ confusing message to players 

West Ham’s manager David Moyes has told his fringe players to step up and force their way into the team. Speaking on the subject of squad size and fixture congestion, the Hammers gaffer suggested he was well aware of the need to rotate players.

Moyes has made just one 87th-minute substitution in both of The Irons’ last two games, and some of the squad look on the verge of exhaustion. However, his suggestion that players need to give him a reason to select them is odd. Maxwel Cornet was introduced against Backa Topola and changed the game. The Hammers were struggling to break down the Serbian side until Cornet provided the cross for Tomas Soucek’s winner.

However, the Ivorian has not been seen since, yet it could be argued that he has done precisely what David Moyes has asked. Both Divin Mubama and Ben Johnson have performed reasonably when called upon this season, with the former even creating a goal.

Moyes’ mixed message

Moyes’s demands seem inconsistent. He appears to be asking players to step up and force their way into the team. Yet when they do, the same players can often be omitted from the squad altogether.

“We’re probably one of the clubs with the least amount of injuries, but we understand there will be a period where it comes,” he said. “We lost two boys in Jarrod Bowen and Michail Antonio during the international break. I will need to find ways of getting others on, but other players need to play themselves into the team and in form as well. They need to show us that I can put them in.

“We’re playing these boys and I’ve got to see how much they can keep playing. But I’m needing the other players to show me, when they’re given the opportunities, to show me their form. We’re needing that”.