Niall gives his verdict on the boys
Fabianski: Kept us in it with some fantastic saves 9
Coufal: Usual commitment and focus 8
Diop: Just about kept the quicker Untied forwards at bay 7
Dawson: First real aberration dropped Coufal in it, and paid for it from the resultant corner with an own goal 7
Cresswell: Defended well at centre-back and left-back 7
Johnson: “He’s not ready for these big games yet”, in the words of my daughter (13); gave it his best though 5
Rice: Had an awful lot to do but played very well, comfortable on the ball 8
Soucek: Quiet by his usual ‘popping up everywhere’ standards 7
Noble: Started in an advanced role, but that only lasted 10 minutes. Offered very little it has to be said 5
Bowen: Impressive return towards his best form – more involved in attack (when we did) 7
Antonio: Looked to have the measure of Lindelof from the start, and grew frustrated at not getting more chances to take him on 6
Subs
Benrahma: Offered more than Noble or Johnson but still needs some improvement to this level 6
Lanzini: Neat and tidy, played between the lines and tried to create chances 6
Dawson and Diop 6’s for me, Johnson had his poorest game for us, not sure why he was moved to right side midfield before being subbed. The whole team were let down by Moyes who should have gone on attack from the start. They were there for the taking, if we want to finish top four we need to go on the attack not this defensive cr@p Moyes has been doing this long enough, it never worked at Everton hasn’t delivered any results for us other than the occasional draw. Last season when we attacked these teams we got results, Leicester when they won the league they attacked, Tottenham when they choked the league they held back… it’s not rocket science do the thing the opponent wants you to do least against the top sides that is being attacked with numbers. Yes we will lose some of those games but if we win one out of three we will be better off than we are playing this negative rubbish.
As a Johnson fan I’m sad at his rating – talk about messed around!! Start at left wing back, oops we are struggling, go to right wing, come back a bit, no come off!!! If DM did that with Dec or Tomas he would have had the same bewilderment. This tactical disaster is the wrong way to treat willing young warriors.
He was moved to replace Bowen who is no longer a two way player. Perhaps he was a one season wonder, but gets poor marks from me.
Sorry Hugh don’t agree with the rating you gave for Bowen. I still think he is very one dimensional. He’s not quick enough to be classed as an out and out winger, not strong enough to play next to Antonio and has a habit of carrying the ball either square across the pitch or back towards his own goal.
Spot on!
Moyes shows the so called top 6 teams far to much respect,every time he sets us up so negative from the start its embarrassing, let’s attack these teams,believe in our flair players and play them from the start.Every hammers fan in the Country knew how this game was gonna go from the off when you see the starting 11 with Noble in it,yes he’s been a great servant and that and yes he’s obviously great around the club but he should be no where near our starting line up.What has Benrahma done to **** Moyes off so much ? Here is a player that oozes skill and class yet Moyes is killing his confidence,starts a game plays well,then dropped for the next game,then comes on as sub does well then doesn’t play next game yet Bowen who let’s be honest has been poor for a long time now,always gets a run out.Come on Moysie take the handbrake of and give us West Ham fans what we want to see Benrahma,he is a baller