Has David Moyes bumped his head after issuing extremely rare praise for West Ham United player Said Benrahma.
Ahead of the game against Anderlecht Hammers News highlighted how the injury to Maxwel Cornet was set to hand Benrahma a huge chance to impress Moyes.
Anyone assessing West Ham’s 1-0 win would have to admit Benrahma fluffed his lines after missing a host of very good opportunities to score.
Benrahma divides opinion among Hammers fans. And the Algerian playmaker appears to face a very bleak future at West Ham after Moyes completely snubbed him against Wolves.
He has barely had a look in this season, particularly of late, and Moyes made it clear Cornet and Pablo Fornals are ahead of him in the win over Wolves.
Moyes has always taken a hard line, taskmaster approach to managing Benrahma. And the pair had a touchline row when Benrahma was seen asking ‘why always me?’ following his substitution against Newcastle last season.
The Scot has been criticised by fans and journalists for his handling of the 27-year-old.
The Hammers boss has often been highly critical of Benrahma’s performances in the past even when the majority believe he has played well.
So has Moyes bumped his head after issuing extremely rare praise for West Ham player Benrahma?
Many West Ham fans on Twitter predicted Benrahma was in for the hairdryer treatment from Moyes.
Far from it.
Instead, perhaps realising his player is seriously low on confidence due to his lack of game time, Moyes offered some carrot rather than stick.
“We like him a lot, we think a lot of him,” Moyes said in his post match presser (Football.London).
“We’re pushing him and we’re working him to continue hitting the target. We see some things which we think he should be doing more, he should be hitting the target more often, he’s missing the goal too often. Tonight was a typical example.
“If he wants to really be competitive, he can be. Can he play at this level? 100 per cent he can play here and he can be an impact player, he can make an influence in the games. When you get those opportunities, you need to take them.”
You can’t help but feel after that performance and with West Ham’s new strength in depth, the next opportunity may be some time.