David Moyes made the baffling call to play Flynn Downes as West Ham United’s most advanced midfielder against Bournemouth last night.
The 23-year-old made his second consecutive Premier League start for the Hammers at the London Stadium against the Cherries.
Downes has really impressed in his last few games for West Ham.
The ex-Swansea ace has added a real level of quality, tenacity and aggression to our engine room.
Downes’ impressive recent form has really cranked up the pressure on Tomas Soucek, with the Czech ace desperately struggling for form.
And bearing that in mind, it was really strange to see where Moyes deployed the 23-year-old last night…
Moyes made bizarre Flynn Downes decision for West Ham vs Bournemouth
Strangley, the Scot decided to start the 23-year-old as the most advanced player of our midfield three.
In fact, he often found himself in the number 10 role and at times, he looked really uncomfortable there.
It’s little wonder as to why. Downes is an archetypal defensive midfielder. He excels when breaking up the opposition’s play and moving the ball on to his more technically gifted teammates.
He kind of seemed like a fish out of water last night. And that’s not knocking Downes…I absolutely love him.
Signed for £14 million from Swansea in the summer (Wales Online), the 23-year-old midfielder has been slowly eased into action by Moyes.
I think he should be starting week in week out next to Declan Rice. Then Lucas Paqueta could be deployed just in front of them in behind Gianluca Scamacca.
The way that the ex-Swansea ace takes the ball on the back foot and opens up his body provides so much more fluidly to our play through the middle of the park.
One thing that he’s not though, is a number 10!
David Moyes’s decision to play Flynn Downes as an advanced midfielder against Bournemouth was a truly baffling one.
Hopefully it’s something that the Scot has learned from and doesn’t repeat anytime soon.
Read also:
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