West Ham boss David Moyes spoke to reporters after yesterday’s vital win against Southampton, and suggested that he still expects more from Pablo Fornals, as quoted by Football.London.
The Spaniard joined the Hammers from Villarreal in the summer of 2019 for around £24 million (BBC).
The 24-year-old made a slow start to life with West Ham, but he began to find his feet around September time.
Fornals was arguably the Hammers’ best player for the final two months of Manuel Pellegrini’s tenure.
But since David Moyes took over, he hasn’t seen regular action.
The Spaniard started against Southampton yesterday, but that was probably only because of Tomas Soucek being unavailable.
Fornals produced two moments of magic, setting up West Ham’s first and finals goals.
And Moyes praised him for that, but suggested that he still expects more from the former Villarreal man. He responded when a reporter suggested that Fornals was ‘very good’, as quoted by Football.London:
“He was good, I’m taking the word very out. I wanted him to do more with the ball at different times. He had some opportunities. The couple of passes for the goals were exceptional. That’s the bit we want more from him. It goes under the radar a bit but his work-rate is fantastic. He is one of the biggest runners, getting around the pitch. I’ve also got a little bit of experience from Spain. The boys who come from Spain take a little bit to settle in. Pablo is in his first year here, he has made good strides. It will always take the Spanish lads a year to settle.”
Now, Moyes is clearly attempting to play down the hype surrounding Fornals.
But he should really be praising the Spaniard, and raising his confidence and morale as much as he can ahead of the Premier League run-in.
The 24-year-old will be vitally important for West Ham between now and the end of the season. And if Fornals keeps playing like he did yesterday, the Hammers will be just fine, despite what Moyes said about him.
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