Jermaine Jenas sums up what every West Ham was thinking about David Moyes’s team selection and tactics

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Jermaine Jenas summed up West Ham’s problem in the first-half against Manchester United last night, when speaking on the BBC last night (February 9th, 19:48).

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In fact, the BBC Sport pundit highlighted something that very single Hammers fan was saying when the line-up was announced.

David Moyes left Michail Antonio at home. Whether the 30-year-old is fatigued, has injured his hamstring or both, nobody actually knows.

With Michy out injured, West Ham really do lack any kind of pace.

Moyes chose to play Andriy Yarmolenko through the middle. That in itself wasn’t great, but then the Scot decided to play Mark Noble and Pablo Fornals as well.

With Antonio missing, the Hammers boss should have introduced more pace into the side with the likes of Ryan Fredericks and Ben Johnson in the wing-back positions.

Moyes did bring those two players on in the second-half but the substitutions were brought about by injuries really.

The Scot also decided not to start Said Benrahma.

Jermaine Jenas highlights David Moyes mistake

With no pace and no trickery in the side, every time the ball went forward in the first-half, it came straight back at us.

And Jermaine Jenas hit the nail on the head with his verdict on BBC Sport last night:

“West Ham are struggling to get out a bit aren’t they. They’ve got to really think about that, whether they need to get it into Andriy Yarmolenko with runners off of him. Whether they decide either Jarrod Bowen or Fornals only run forward, they somehow need to put a different thought into United’s mind that not everything is going to be into feet..”

Jenas was absolutely spot on here. West Ham were far too easy to play against last night in the first-half.

Credit to Moyes where it’s due, however. He did change things up. Sure, some of the substitutes that he made were enforced but the Scot also changed our formation and playing style.

In fairness, we deserved to at least take Manchester United to penalties. Its was a herculean effort from the players after half-time, considering how many games they have played recently.

Let’s hope that they are now well rested for Monday’s clash with Sheffield United at the London Stadium.