Bad results, poor performances and individual “lapses” just seem to happen consistently to West Ham and David Moyes. Feels like a manager could sort it out.
It was either sarcasm or instinctive sycophancy; David Moyes is a football man and is thus revered across an industry he has worked in as a coach for two and a half decades, his every decision given an automatic air of esteem. But to hear the co-commentator suggest that introducing right-back Ben Johnson for centre-half Angelo Ogbonna nine minutes after going 2-0 down and 11 minutes before full-time was proof of a manager deciding to “throw everything at this” was the final insult to West Ham fans.
That substitution did involve a formation change. Moyes started with a 5-3-2 system which left no room for interpretation as to the first number; it was a five. There are sometimes blurred lines in and out of possession or in certain game states, but this was not three centre-halves with wing-backs given licence to roam either side. This was a rigid, flat back five. And ahead of them were stationed three holding midfielders, with Jarrod Bowen ostensibly partnering Michail Antonio in one of only two actual attacking roles.
By the 71st minute, and with that team a goal down having somehow managed only three shots to Tottenham’s 15, Danny Ings and Said Benrahma were introduced for Antonio and Flynn Downes. Moyes lobbed a couple of kitchen utensils at his hosts but the sink remained firmly intact.
READ MORE: West Ham plan £120m Man Utd raid; Red Devils identify Meslier as De Gea heir
Almost immediately after that double change, Heung-min Son scored Tottenham’s second goal of the game. It was a deficit neither Johnson nor Pablo Fornals, given eight minutes to turn the tide in place of Emerson Palmieri, could affect.
Considering the weekend’s prior results, it was a surrender West Ham could hardly afford. They entered these fixtures in 16th and will end them in 18th, with three of the four teams who had been below them all winning 1-0. The Hammers were three Premier League games unbeaten before visiting their London rivals, after a hard-fought victory over Everton and two spirited draws with Newcastle and Chelsea; suddenly that exact same form is incorporated in a run of just one win in 11 top-flight matches.
Setting up specifically not to lose a match rather than trying to win it is not a problem in itself. It’s unambitious, negative and often dull, but the tactic can undeniably be…
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at Football365…