No substitute policy is a huge risk for small Hammers squad
Despite West Ham’s last-gasp flurry against Tottenham at the London Stadium, the Hammers players looked absolutely knackered.
The 1-1 Premier League draw may well turn out to be a good point if it secures European football at the end of the season. However, I can’t have been the only one panicking as Ange Postecoglou made a number of substitutions while our manager David Moyes did nothing.
The fact that West Ham were still peppering the Spurs’ goal in the 94th minute would suggest that there was still energy in the team. But Mohammed Kudus and Michail Antonio looked completely knackered.
No substitute policy? Kudus gave everything against Tottenham
With two games per week for West Ham, I can only hope that Moyes knows what he’s doing. To go into the busiest point in the season with the smallest squad in the Premier League is risky. But to do so without making substitutions would seem like a massive gamble.
Moyes assembled the squad and now he’s been found out that the bench just isn’t good enough – so rather than risk any substitutions after the Newcastle debacle, he bottled it and just continued to flog the team to death. Luckily for him it just about worked and he scraped a point. This time.
Let’s be brutally honest here, Moyes has spent £450 Million on basically assembling a 14 mad squad that includes 2 goalkeepers for a 53 game season, more if we get past Leverkusen.
Surely it’s wrong? The fact that every other manager, including all the top ones, are using squad players and young players as both starters and subs, tells the story. Moyes was found out last year flogging the core players to a standstill, and sadly he probably will again. The full effect cannot be measured by a draw v Spuds, no it will be empty tanks in future games, late goals against and not enough scored. Shame, shame.