A wry smile from David Moyes in a BBC interview may have dropped a big Kurt Zouma hint ahead of West Ham’s clash with Frankfurt.
They say actions speak louder than words.
Well West Ham fans will be hoping reactions speak louder than words after Moyes’s response to a question in a BBC interview ahead of the huge Europa League semi-final against Frankfurt on Thursday night.
Before you rush off to watch the interview, hear me out.
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Sometimes reactions and facial expressions say a lot more than the actual words coming out of a manager’s mouth following an emotional game of football.
Moyes wore a pained expression after watching his valiant patched together West Ham side lose 1-0 in the last minute at Chelsea on Sunday. Didn’t we all.
For want of a better phrase, Moyes had a face like a slapped backside throughout a three-minute interview with BBC Sport post Chelsea. And understandably so.
I don’t know if Moyes plays poker. But if he has a tell then I think West Ham fans may have witnessed it right at the end of the interview when asked about his defensive crisis.
The Hammers have been somewhat cursed this season at left centre-back.
West Ham lost Angelo Ogbonna to an ACL injury in November. And he has been joined on the sidelines by Zouma and Issa Diop in consecutive weekends recently.
West Ham, under the direction of Moyes, have given very little detail on either injury involving Zouma and Diop.
That may or may not have been in the back of my mind when I watched Moyes respond to more questions about his defensive options for West Ham’s biggest match for decades against Eintracht Frankfurt.
When asked ‘might you have one or two more defenders available for Thursday than you did today’ an awkward Moyes responded: “I wouldn’t expect so, no.”
But the next bit could be his tell over his West Ham plan for Thursday.
A wry smile broke out across Moyes’s face when the reporter finished with the comment ‘So you’ll go with what you’ve got’ in the BBC interview that I believe – or perhaps more hope – drops a big Zouma hint ahead of the West Ham clash with Frankfurt.
“That’s what we’ve got,” Moyes said, smiling, while appearing to be trying to hold back a laugh.
Whether he was quite literally grinning and bearing the situation or not who knows.
And I have always said it is the hope that kills you with West Ham.
But having watched the interview I have a feeling we might just see Zouma lining up at the back again come Thursday night.
What a massive boost that would be.