Time to let feet talk with your feet, not your mouth Benny

By CandH’s top blogger Allen Cummings

It wouldn’t be West Ham if there wasn’t a conspiracy theory swilling around somewhere – and right now the time is ripe for an old chestnut to be dusted off and re-circulated.

Said Benrahma’s rather public fit of pique at being substituted on Sunday against Newcastle United, and what he’s ‘supposed’ to have mouthed towards David Moyes, has provided the perfect touch paper for r some to have their say.

It’s difficult to promote negativity when things have been going so well over the last 18 months. But the team and Moyes have hit a flat spot in recent weeks so the opportunists have seized the moment!

A stat showing Benrahma as being the most substituted player in the Premier League this season – a fact wioth which we can’t argue.

Next came suggestions Benny is subbed regularly because he was never a player Moyes really wanted in the first place. He was a David Sullivan ‘signing’ that Moyes was forced to accept – and the manager is now making his point to the Chairman, at Said’s expense.

Benrahma is certainly top of a league he’d rather not feature in – being substituted 17 times from 20 Premier League starts.

(Photo by IAN KINGTON/AFP via Getty Images)

But he’s in good company if you look a little further down the same league table. Emiliano Buendia is next in line – Aston Villa’s record signing at £34.5m last summer has been subbed 14 times from 18 league starts.

Sergi Canos an important player for Brentford joins the party, being hooked 14 times from 23 starts. But maybe most surprising of all is Diogo Jota in fourth place.

The Portuguese striker who cost Liverpool £40m from Wolverhampton Wanderers, and is scoring goals for fun on Merseyside, has been the recipient of the Jurgen Klopp ‘wave’ 13 times so far in 19 starts.

Somehow I don’t see Moyes as a manager who takes to petty actions just to prove a point – if indeed there is a ‘point’ there in the first place. He’s got more integrity than that.

Substitutions are made for varying reasons – and all for what is believed will be for the benefit of the team. Why wouldn’t they be?

Benny has lost his way recently – like one or two others in the team it has to be said. It happens to even the best of players. He’s stamped his feet and no doubt had his say – in private, as all these things should be done.

Now it’s time to get his head down again, work through this and show us all the form and the goals we saw at the beginning of the season. David Moyes has stated what he expects to see from his player, now Benny needs to let his feet do the talking  – not his mouth!