Declan Rice was pictured making a gesture to West Ham United fans after the Nottingham Forest defeat but he is certainly not to blame.
The Hammers have opened the season in the worst possible way with back-to-back defeats against the defending champions and now newly-promoted Forest.
After having a goal ruled out by VAR, West Ham showed a real lack of game management as they conceded an awful goal right on the stroke of half-time.
The second half was an improvement as the Hammers hit the underside of the crossbar on two occasions and missed a couple of glaring chances.
Dean Henderson was in good form. And when West Ham were awarded a penalty by VAR for handball he easily saved Declan Rice’s passback of a spot kick.
It was a tame, telegraphed effort from West Ham’s talisman who was well below his usual high standards.
Moyes had been trying to bring on Manuel Lanzini and Gianluca Scamacca – 15 minutes too late for the liking of most frustrated West Ham fans.
Lanzini has an excellent penalty record and Scamacca would surely have been in the mix to take it too.
Rice’s woeful penalty summed up West Ham’s efforts and rotten luck in front of goal.
What Rice then did after the final whistle was admirable but totally unnecessary.
Declan Rice was pictured making a gesture to West Ham fans after the Nottingham Forest defeat but he is certainly not to blame.
The skipper made his way over to the packed away end at the City Ground and held his hands aloft as he apologised repeatedly to the travelling Hammers faithful.
This was not Rice’s fault, though. Far from it. Yes he sets high standards and was not at his best. But he took big responsibility to step up and take it in the first place. There was no hiding.
But Moyes could and should have brought Lanzini and Scamacca on sooner after an awful first half.
The Scot dithered for too long with his subs, almost always following a rather old school methodology of waiting until after the hour mark to make changes.
Rice’s gesture will be appreciated by West Ham fans. But it was not necessary.
West Ham now face Viborg in their Europa Conference League qualifier on Thursday before taking on in-form bogey team Brighton.
On another day West Ham beat Forest comfortably.
But things must improve quickly given the compacted nature of the first half of the season.