The good, the bad and the ugly from West Ham in defeat to Rangers as David Moyes voices serious concerns

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It was a case of the good, the bad and the ugly from West Ham in defeat to Rangers as David Moyes voices serious concerns.

The Scot cut a frustrated figure after the 3-1 defeat to Rangers at Ibrox and not for the first time of late.

After West Ham’s lethargic pre-season draw with Reading at the weekend Moyes warned his players they simply must up their levels.

Given these are “only pre-season games” it suggests the manager has very real worries about his West Ham squad.

Moyes is so irked he has warned his players he will have to make more signings.

And again it’s not for the first time in recent months.

When West Ham threw away the lead to lose 3-1 to Brighton on the final day of last season and miss out on a Europa League spot, Moyes lambasted his players and sent them into the summer with their tails between their legs.

“Really disappointing. There was no resilience, no toughness, nothing about us in the second half. If we’re going to play like that then we’re going to be challenging in a different part of the league. I won’t have them if they’re going to play like that.”

Those were some of Moyes’ words following that defeat to Brighton (The Guardian).

West Ham’s lack of thrust in pre-season coupled with a poor transfer window thus far – with two weeks until the season begins – seems to have darkened his mood.

There was the good, the bad and the ugly from West Ham in the defeat to Rangers as Moyes voices serious concerns.

Let’s start with the good.

Jarrod Bowen, Tomas Soucek, Vladimir Coufal, Pablo Fornals and Nikola Vlasic all looked fit, fired up and focused.

But there were some really poor performances out there none more so than Michail Antonio, who missed yet another one-on-one, and Aaron Cresswell.

Both players did their best to highlight just how badly West Ham need a new striker and left-back.

Antonio and Cresswell have been great servants and still have plenty to offer as part of the Hammers squad. But if they are starters for West Ham this season there is no chance Moyes’ side will continue to challenge for the top six.

Ben Johnson was poor and does little to suggest he can be an influential Premier League full-back on a consistent basis. West Ham were markedly better with Coufal on in his place.

West Ham were often slow in transition which has been an unwelcome feature of the side for much of this year.

But this IS pre-season and it should be judged as such – even if Moyes has made it clear he does not feel that is an excuse for what he has seen so far.

Now for the ugly. The elephant in the room which anyone at the game or watching the live stream will have spotted.

Speculation is still swirling around Declan Rice’s long-term future amid links to Chelsea – not helped by his bizarre appearance in videos with the Blues squad on their tour of the LA Dodgers stadium in pre-season (The Sun).

Rice was substituted by Moyes early in the second half with West Ham being thumped 3-0 by Rangers.

Moyes said himself last week he wants to try and get as many 90 minutes – or close to it – into his key players before the season begins.

Nobody but Moyes and his staff will know what the plan was for Rice at Ibrox.

But the midfielder did not take kindly to being subbed. He was shaking his head and walked straight down the tunnel while his fellow substitutes went to sit on the bench to watch the rest of the game.

There could be a number of reasons why Rice went down the tunnel. But he was clearly unhappy at coming off so early (around 55 minutes) which suggests it was not part of the plan.

Rice did eventually return to the bench but could be seen shaking his head on occasion.

As captain and Mark Noble’s successor it was an inauspicious start to his full-on Hammers leadership role. It was an ugly and unnecessary little aside on a pretty miserable evening overall, particularly in light of what looks a serious injury to £30m new boy Nayef Aguerd.

On the flip side Rice may have been checking on Aguerd or getting some quick treatment. We simply don’t know.

But West Ham TV’s own commentators – including former Hammer Rufus Brevett – commented on the fact Rice went straight down the tunnel, remarking he did not look happy.

And it did not go unnoticed by the thousands of West Ham fans in attendance.

West Ham fans know that Rice will be leading by example on the pitch but – in the absence of Noble – how he acts off it will be nearly as important at times.

Let’s hope the Hammers are getting all of this out of their system before the season gets underway with the daunting prospect of champions Man City coming to the London Stadium.

If a wake-up call was needed on and off the pitch to guard against complacency at West Ham then the phone has rung.

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