West Ham lost that game in the January transfer window

Bayer Leverkusen 2-0 West Ham: Europa League 

Sometimes football is complicated and sometimes it’s simple; yesterday was the latter. Bayer Leverkusen, who are an attacking team with options on the bench, and West Ham aren’t. So, in last night’s quarter-final, we saw a plucky Hammers team, with a heroic goalkeeper, eventually get undone once substitutions had been made.

Xabi Alonso had eventual goal scorers Victor Boniface and Jonas Hofmann to bring off his bench, while Moyes had some defenders and a bunch of attackers he’d rather not use.

While as a West Ham fan I’m disappointed with the result, we are not the victims here. That was a defeat totally of our own making. The seeds of the defeat were sown in January when Said Benrahma and Pablo Fornals were allowed to leave, and we screwed up the transfer of Ibrahim Osman.

Old pals: Steidten and Alonso hug it out after the final whistle

Prepare to fail

The winter transfer window left us with the second oldest and smallest squad in the Premier League. It was never designed to withstand injury and suspension and was always going to be a gamble.

Claret & Hugh has certainly benefited from good sources within the club over the years, and I absolutely believe that David Moyes was offered players in January. Tim Steiden had a list, and even David Sullivan got involved with a few suggestions of his own. The club were adamant that a striker and winger needed to be recruited, but all suggestions were rebuffed.

Last night’s 2-0 loss was the culmination of the unfinished work in January. Moyes isn’t the only one to blame for that failure because ultimately, the director of football should wield enough power and influence to force through a deal if it will benefit the club.

Where Moyes is to blame is his refusal to use his substitutes and academy players. Selling Benrahma and Fornals is one thing, but to not use Maxwel Cornet after letting them go is a horrendous waste of £17 million.

The fact of the matter is that Moyes doesn’t really trust anyone on his bench. So when Xabi Alonso looked to his reserves, he saw match-winners. When David Moyes looked at his, he just saw risk, which ironically is precisely how he plays his football.