David Moyes’ admission is admirable but it’s clearly not helping West Ham

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West Ham United boss David Moyes has shared what he has told his players as their wait for a penalty continues to rumble on, as quoted by Football.London.

The Hammers are the only team in the Premier League not to be awarded a spot kick so far this term.

In fact, the last time David Moyes’s side were given a penalty was way back in July away at Manchester United.

In comparison, Leicester City have been awarded 10 penalties this season!

Perhaps our players don’t drive at pace into the opposition’s penalty area enough. There have been occasions where West Ham should have unquestionably been awarded spot-kicks, however.

Away at Arsenal and Aston Villa are two examples that immediately spring to mind.

The Hammers do seem to be an honest team, however. None of our players go to ground easy.

David Moyes insists on honesty from West Ham players

And that clearly stems from the Hammers boss.

Moyes spoke to reporters yesterday and insisted that he always tells his players to stay on their feet, as quoted by Football.London:

“I tell the players to stay on their feet and not go down easily. I like the game to be played correctly. Maybe I am wrong and we should be looking to gain but I want us to be an honest football team and I want us to try and do things correctly. That will not always happen, it obviously won’t but we’ve not been getting penalty kicks that’s for sure. I hope there are a bundle of penalties in the second half of the season.”

It is an admirable stance for Moyes to take. If you don’t go down, you don’t get a penalty, however.

That’s where the rule needs to be looked at.

Tomas Soucek stayed on his feet away at Aston Villa last week when he was clearly fouled. Had he gone down, West Ham would surely have been awarded a penalty.

And contrastingly, look at the way Mohamed Salah threw himself to the ground during Liverpool’s clash with Manchester City on Sunday.

The Egyptian was given a penalty as there was contact. Had he stayed on his feet, however, like he should have done, Liverpool would not have been awarded the spot-kick.

Let’s just hope that honesty prevails in the long-run. It is a sad indictment of how the game has evolved, however, that the time seems to have come where players need to throw themselves to the ground in order to get a decision in their favour.