(Photo by Rob Newell – CameraSport via Getty Images)
David Moyes made it clear when Jarrod Bowen was showing little form to speak of early season that he could still put the pressure on for a World Cup place.
Amd over the past three or four games the No 20 – missed penalty excepted – the sort of form that we can expect of him since his arrival from Hull.
And speaking to reporters the Hammers boss made it clear that the England manager will have a tough job when deciding whether the player will be involved in Qatar
He said: “I think Jarrod is trying really hard to give Gareth a big decision to make and I think he is pushing. His form has got better and he has been really important to us.
If you said recently who would have been more likely to score for us at the moment?’ it would have been Jarrod Bowen. I don’t pick the England team and I am glad I don’t because, it’s such a difficult choice with the selection of players.
Jarrod wants to score, he has that in him at the moment and he’s got that feeling of ‘I want to score’. We are playing him a bit more central at different time as well, hopefully get him closer to goals.
But he’s stepped up and scored a couple goals when sometimes you least expect it. I think Jarrod has done well in the last few weeks, I really do, and I know the penalty miss (against Liverpool) draws attention to him but, he’s doing an awful lot of good things Jarrod.
The biggest things I can say is, that I get great thrill from any of the players that we bring in, especially when they are from the lower leagues, and they go on to become England internationals. I don’t think it gets much better as as a manager far as, you get players play for you and they trust you.
I can only look at Jarrod and say how much he has looked to improve, and he has got his goals. To think what he was like when he came from Hull!
Jarrod has been very much part of the journey of being a team 3rd or 4th bottom in the league, to a team challenging towards the top of the Premier League. Jarrod has played a huge role in that.
The problem is that while Biwen was being picked by Moyes when it was clear he was contributing nothing, we were losing points. He should have been dropped and other players given a chance. Yet another example of Moyes and not making the correct calls for the benefit of the team.