Moyes’ verdict as Hammers crash out

David Moyes was pleased with the performance of his Hammers side as they were beaten 2-1 by Spurs at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Wednesday in the EFL Cup quarter-final.

The Irons had a number of chances in the first half in particular and brought the best out of goalkeeper Hugo Lloris, who twice denied Tomas Soucek in brilliant fashion.

Spurs scored two preventable goals; Steven Bergwijn opened the scoring when he poked home after Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg’s cross, and Bergwijn then turned provider by dribbling through a packed Irons defence and cutting back for Lucas Moura to finish.

Jarrod Bowen did score a brilliant goal to cancel out Spurs’ opener, twisting and turning and leaving Eric Dier on the deck, but the Hammers couldn’t break down the Tottenham defence in the second half.

Nevertheless, Moyes was pleased with the way the Irons played against Antonio Conte’s side, particularly given the depleted nature of the squad, as Mikey Antonio tested positive for COVID prior to the game.

He said, per Football.London: “I thought it was a good performance, a couple of defensive lapses in the first half. An awful lot of good things for us. The result wasn’t a good thing but the way we tried to get back into the game was very good.”

The Irons do have a number of defensive injuries and Moyes added: “I think it’s stretching the squad because we’ve lost so many defenders. We gave two quite poor goals away. I thought throughout the game we were a threat. I am pleased for the players as I thought it was an improvement on recent weeks.”