David Moyes paid the price for tactical naivety and a lack of courage as West Ham proved the naysayers right in defeat at Aston Villa.
Much of the talk ahead of West Ham’s trip to face Aston Villa was about whether Mohammed Kudus would be given his first start.
Earlier this week we suggested on Hammers News that the time has come for Kudus to come into the starting XI in place of Michail Antonio.
In his pre-match press conference, Moyes said Kudus is ‘very close’ to making his first start for the Hammers at Villa Park. But he said the same thing before the Newcastle game and didn’t.
Villa’s high line was begging to be exploited but Moyes lacked the courage to make big calls
As we pointed out Unai Emery insists on deploying a high line and more often than not it has worked in Villa’s favour.
West Ham – specialists in counter attacking football – are one of the teams capable of exploiting that high line, though.
That high line was there for all to see throughout at Villa Park. The trouble is West Ham failed miserably to take advantage.
Of course Kudus did not start. And even when he came on in the second half he was shunted out on the left instead of playing up top. And it was there that a bad touch set Aston Villa away to score the killer third after West Ham had pulled it back to 2-1.
David Moyes pays the price for tactical naivety and lack of courage as West Ham prove naysayers right in Aston Villa defeat
Over the international break Sky Sports, the Premier League’s official website and the BBC all labelled West Ham imposters in the fight for the European places.
Their data-led analysis suggested the Hammers were fortunate to be where they were in the table and that the run of games between now and the November international break would see them drop down to midtable.
Well David Moyes paid the price for tactical naivety and a lack of courage as West Ham proved those naysayers right in this Aston Villa defeat.
The game ended 4-1 and in truth it was nothing less than Villa deserved.
Hammers must ensure woeful display is a one-off if they’re serious about competing for European spots
Moyes once again left Kudus on the bench when that high line was crying out for his or Jarrod Bowen’s pace.
Antonio had an awful game but somehow managed to remain on the pitch for 90 minutes.
This was as much a case of Emery outwitting Moyes as it was Villa outplaying West Ham.
The Hammers have made an excellent start to the season and all teams can have a bad day at the office.
But Moyes did not help himself or the team here with his lack of courage to make big calls like dropping Antonio for Kudus.
It turned into the kind of performance we saw during the dark days last season.
West Ham must make sure it’s a one-off if they are serious about competing with the likes of Villa for the European places.
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