David Moyes’ decision to publicly dig out Manu Lanzini’s “contribution” to the fourth goal against Manchester City may rebound on him during these troubled Hammers times.
The West Ham manager chose to highlight the issue in his post match presser after being roundly booed for removing the Argentinian midfielder from the action.
Then – claiming he lost possession in the build up to the third goal – and accepting the booing directed at him he said: “….everybody should look at the fourth goal, and then they’ll maybe see why.
“The players here have got to understand, we play players to keep the ball, to defend.”
Insiders have admitted to CandH that the Andy Carroll affair and heavy defeat against City has “lowered morale considerably”and Lanzini’s problems this season brought a near immediate response from Pablo Zabaleta who declared the midfielder would be bouncing back against Leicester.
But Lanzini may not have appreciated being called out – the second time Moyes has done so in recent weeks with Declan Rice the previous ‘victim’ – particularly at a time when he is scrapping back to full fitness and has a chance of World Cup selection for his country.
The catalogue of issues building around the manager are undoubtedly creating a more uncertain scenario surrounding a new contract offer as reported on CandH last night (Mon).
Seems that it’s OK for the supporters (Some on this site) to criticise the players, but not the manager?
OK, so the coaching team got it tactically wrong on Sunday (and last week) but the players have to take responsibility for the lacklustre performances…
Fair enough but must it be done publicly ? Should these sort of criticisms not be confined to the dressing room or managers office?
If the team has been set up defensively with more than the usual amount of defensive minded players then guess what? If it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck and looks like a duck……
Yes the players do have a part to play in whatever the tactics are that have been set out by the manager but its obviously not enthusing the majority of the team when they have to go out and play like that. Its up to the manager to get the best out of the squad that he has and play to the team’s strengths. We have had a taste of how the players can play when going forward and that seems to be our strength.
When we set up to defend, especially against Citeh of all teams, there’s only going to be one outcome. Now put yourself in the shoes of a player who has been told to go out there and hang on for dear life!!!
Moyes has got to go!