David Moyes had some big decisions to make and one in particular paid off in West Ham’s Premier League win over Brentford.
After conceding 11 goals in three games and scoring none, something had to give at West Ham.
The pressure had piled onto the shoulders of David Moyes ahead of West Ham’s clash with Brentford in the Premier League.
Kalvin Phillips’ sending off in the defeat at Forest did the manager a huge favour in solving a midfield problem he has brought on himself.
Edson Alvarez looked more like the player who had become central to all things good about this Hammers team before Phillips’ arrival muddied the midfield water.
Moyes answered calls for West Ham change
But it was at the back where many fans were calling for change.
And Moyes has explained the reason for his big £30m decision which has saved West Ham’s season.
West Ham supporters have been calling for Nayef Aguerd and Kurt Zouma to be dropped. Aguerd in particular has failed to convince consistently since signing for £30m from Rennes in the summer of 2022.
Moyes finally took action for the Brentford game, dropping Aguerd to the bench in favour of Konstantinos Mavropanos.
The big Greek had an excellent game overall.
Speaking to Sky Sports, Moyes admitted Aguerd’s performances and the fact Mavropanos has impressed dictated he had to drop the Moroccan – something fans have been telling the Scot for weeks.
Boss explains why Aguerd was dropped
“I just think Dinos has played quite well you know,” Moyes said when asked why he made the defensive change.
“Nayef’s had a difficult month or so since he came back from the African Nations.
“He might need a little bit of a breather. So we made a change there.”
When Aguerd made himself unavailable over Christmas due to illness before meeting up with Morocco for AFCON, Mavropanos came in and – bar a terrible mistake at Bristol – performed very well indeed.
He was West Ham’s best player in the 1-1 draw with Bournemouth. And the defence, with the big Greek in it, had been the only area of the team performing to a decent standard since the turn of the year.
But Moyes surprisingly dropped Mavropanos for Aguerd for the 3-0 defeat to Man United.
Fans felt it was a strange and very harsh decision.
Aguerd possesses a wand of a left foot. But he also has the propensity to make very costly errors on a regular basis. As Morocco found out when they were dumped out of AFCON by South Africa.
While he’s clearly not alone in his poor performances, the defence has been weaker with Aguerd in it.
Aguerd better suited to slower European style
Eleven goals conceded in three games since his return to the team is all the evidence needed on that front.
And many of them have been directly or partially Aguerd’s fault.
The manager recently defended his decision to drop Mavropanos for Aguerd, saying he likes having a left-footed defender for balance. But he admitted the 26-year-old must improve aspects of his game.
Aguerd did not show any signs of improving so Moyes had to make the decision. Now Mavropanos must keep the shirt for a spell.
Aguerd is sometimes far too weak, rash and slow to react in the Premier League. But he often stands out in the slower more tactical European games, which suggests he may be better suited to La Liga or Serie A.
At the weekend a journalist close to Moyes claimed West Ham have given up on Aguerd and want to sell him this summer.
The Hammers are said to be targeting a ‘quick and strong’ star as his replacement.
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