David Moyes tells struggling West Ham players they must toughen up and says some showed a lack of leadership

Add as preferred source on Google

Hammers boss David Moyes tells struggling West Ham players they must toughen up and says some showed a lack of leadership.

West Ham slipped to the bottom of the fledgling table – at least until after Man United’s clash with Liverpool – as they suffered a third consecutive Premier League defeat in a 2-0 home loss to bogey side Brighton.

The Hammers were poor in a 3-1 win over Viborg in the Europa Conference League in midweek too.

It is the manner of the lethargic, passive performances as much as the results that have West Ham fans concerned.

The Hammers were jeered off after the defeat to Brighton.

But while nobody condones booing the team, this is not necessarily a knee-jerk reaction. West Ham have won just three games since February and even Moyes himself has admitted there is a malaise about his side, calling them “stale” recently.

West Ham barely laid a glove on Man City or Brighton.

Fans were frustrated by the lack of reaction from the team as Brighton took a hold on the game.

Captain Declan Rice – by the ridiculously high standards he has set himself – had his worst game in a West Ham shirt against the Seagulls.

And many fans accused him and others of ‘going through the motions’.

West Ham don’t have time to sulk or feel sorry for themselves, something Rice admits the squad are doing after their poor start (Sky Sports).

Now Moyes has told his struggling West Ham players they must toughen up and says some showed a lack of leadership in their latest loss.

The Scot insists his side’s fortunes will change but they must get back to their resilient old selves to earn it.

“It will turn, but we’re going to have to keep working at it,” Moyes told whufc.com.

“We’ll need to be a bit more tougher and rugged than we’ve been to get ourselves back on track.”

In his post match press conference Moyes said he was disappointed with a lack of leadership from certain players when the going got tough.

“You are looking at that today and you are saying come on, you take responsibility, you take ownership of it,” Moyes said in his post match presser (Football.London).

“I could name a few who I thought ‘hey, come on, you bowed to that today and you should have really taken that on.’”

West Ham travel to Denmark on Thursday for the second leg of their Europa Conference League qualifier against Viborg.

Moyes then takes on another manager feeling some heat at the moment when he takes West Ham to Aston Villa on Sunday.

MORE WEST HAM NEWS

Moyes critical of two players after Brighton loss but sees positives.

West Ham are passive everywhere we go: Player ratings vs Brighton.

Moyes not overly impressed by summer signing so far and demands better.