The Moyes verdict

Bowen impressed in late arrival

David Moyes was keen to talk up the Hammers application at the Etihad last night.

As the old cliche goes you are only as good as you are allowed to be and City were their brilliant  in a game which most Irons fans had written off before the start.

Such as Kevin De Bruyne – the man of the match – are on an entirely different level and he, in particular, chose last night to turn on  one of his best displays of the seasons.

Having said that, the Hammers – despite one or two periods with Declan Rice  showed the way forward – never had any serious inclination to have a go and that was the bitterly disappointing element of the game and the approach of David Moyes.

That he should mention ‘goal difference’ being a consideration demonstrated his cautious approach and circumspect thinking.

We saw that it could have been different whenhe finally gave  Jarrod Bowen a chance to show what he had with the new signing taking  limited opportunity to go past players and looking as though he would have been a real threat had he been used earlier.

Moyes said after the game to Sky per https://www.whufc.com/news/articles/2020/february/19-february/david-moyes-effort-players-was-fantastic: “I thought the players did a great job in trying to be organised, disciplined and structured in a way that would make it hard for them

“We did it for long periods, but they move the ball so well. They advance the ball every time they move and put you on the back foot so many times.

“There were lots of good defensive moments in the first half when we had to defend when it looked as if they were in, but overall I’d have liked us to play much better, especially with the ball and on the counter attack. We had a few opportunities, and we didn’t take them.

“I want to be able to play, look forward and play good stuff. I think we showed really good organisational qualities tonight – we were disciplined in our roles, everybody knew what they had to do, and against these teams you have to be.

“There will be games coming up when we have the chance to play differently, but obviously we’re in a period of a couple of tough games.”

“I’m confident [we can get of the situation],” he added. “These games were always going to be difficult for us but getting a good structure, especially defensively [is important], because if you don’t concede any goals you always will pick up points.

“We have to take that, try to improve our football, because we’ve got some good games coming up at home.”