West Ham boss David Moyes has received criticism from some fans over negative tactics in the draw with Aston Villa.
The Hammers started where they left off against Burnley and Freiburg when Aston Villa came to the London Stadium in the Premier League on Sunday.
West Ham took the game to a Villa side without key man John McGinn.
And it worked with David Moyes’ side dominating and taking a deserved 1-0 lead through Michail Antonio.
West Ham have struggled to consistently play well over 90 minutes this season, though. One half is often a stark contrast to the other – as the Hammers proved in that 2-2 draw with Burnley.
That was the case against Villa too with West Ham second best in a poor second half display which saw the visitors equalise.
Game of two halves for Hammers once again
The manager has faced big question marks over his style, approach and future this season.
And Moyes left many supporters frustrated as he brought on utility defender Ben Johnson in place of Antonio on 65 minutes.
He also withdrew Lucas Paqueta for James War-Prowse with 10 minutes or so left to play.
And Aaron Cresswell was a straight swap for Emerson.
The substitutions were seen as negative by fans as Villa salvaged a draw despite many feeling they were ‘there for the taking’.
Well Moyes made a frank admission about his negative West Ham tactics amid criticism from some.
Moyes criticised for negative second half approach and subs
The Hammers boss has conceded he did make defensive-minded changes. And he says that’s because an improved Aston Villa forced him too.
“When we got what we thought was the second goal disallowed just after half-time, it sort of changed and I thought Villa showed why they are such a good team and they made a couple of changes at half-time which improved them,” Moyes admitted on the club’s official website.
“We found it more difficult, but we hung in, stuck at it and in the end we came really close to winning the game.
“Mick (Antonio) has played 70 minutes in midweek and another 60-odd today, so we’re trying to manage it. We’ve also got other people with fresh legs who we want to get on the pitch and give them minutes as well, but I thought it was just the right time to see if we could freshen it up.
“They were the better team at the time and we couldn’t keep the ball and weren’t getting up the pitch too quickly, so trying to find other ways of doing it was what we tried to do, but he did a good job for us, Mick, and scored a really good goal.
Villa forced me onto the back foot says Moyes
“I think Villa had a lot of the ball and we sat deep, but not by design. We wanted to try and press as high as we did. A couple of changes they made changed it and a couple of quick players that they brought on in Zaniolo and Diaby gave us a bit of a problem in the positions they played.
“We tried to solve it and the game was tight and obviously if we could have had another half-dozen chances to break away and score, we might have done so because we had a couple, but we just couldn’t get the three points…
“It was still a really good point against Aston Villa, so we’ll keep hanging in there.”
VAR obviously also played its part in thwarting the Hammers.
It may feel like two points dropped, especially after the Jekyll and Hyde display vs Burnley.
But in the end a draw was probably a fair result on the balance of play.
That’s evidenced by the fact West Ham and Villa both had an identical number of shots (13) and shots on target (5).
It’s refreshing to see such honesty from Moyes about his tactics, though. Especially given how agitated some supporters have been about that second half showing.
It keeps West Ham in the top seven for now. Although they will drop to midtable if the teams below them win their games in hand.
And that’s where some fans will feel frustrated that we haven’t made crucial home games pay in the race for a Euro spot.
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