Is this the real reason David Moyes gave a spiky response to a reporter about West Ham star Jarrod Bowen live on air?
When it comes to football managers West Ham boss David Moyes is one of the few in the modern game who can be described as ‘old school’.
The honest as the day is long Scot added another achievement to his CV with the Hammers on Thursday night as he led his side to a 2-1 win over Freiburg in Germany which set a new English record of 17 games unbeaten in European competition.
Another of Moyes’ achievements on the pitch has been spotting the talent of Jarrod Bowen and helping him to become an England international.
Bowen was called up by Gareth Southgate for his latest Three Lions squad in the hours before West Ham kicked off at Freiburg.
Is this the real reason David Moyes gave spiky response to reporter about West Ham star Jarrod Bowen live on air?
But Moyes raised eyebrows when he took umbrage at a question from TNT Sports journalist Archie Rhind-Tutt before the match.
Moyes took issue with a seemingly innocuous question about Bowen’s England call-up.
Rhind-Tutt raised Bowen’s England recall before querying: “What are the qualities that have made him stand out in your team?”
Moyes responded: “Well I’m not going to answer anything about Jarrod getting in the England team before a West Ham cup game tonight so let’s keep to the West Ham questions please.”
‘Moyes had a go at me and I’m still not sure why’
Rhind-Tutt then took to Twitter afterwards to claim: “David Moyes had a go at me and I’m still not sure why.”
Well is this the real reason Moyes gave a spiky response to reporter about West Ham star Bowen live on air?
Moyes has been around the block. More than once. The Hammers boss has been there, done that and got the t-shirt.
And he knew exactly where the interview was heading after that question from Rhind-Tutt.
Much of TNT Sports’ coverage in the build-up to the game had focused on James Ward-Prowse and Southgate’s decision to snub him yet again despite his fine form.
Had honest Moyes answered Bowen England question he knew next one would have been about Ward-Prowse snub
Moyes knew that if he answered the question about Bowen’s call-up, the very next question would be about the Ward-Prowse snub.
And that would have been out of line just moments before West Ham were about to play an important European match.
He would have looked silly, hypocritical and could have been accused of double standards if he praised Bowen’s inclusion and then refused to comment on Ward-Prowse’s non-selection. Shooting down the Bowen question thereby shut down any chance of the reporter asking about Ward-Prowse. Mission accomplished.
Moyes never criticises international managers over their squad selections. He never has. Even in his press conference for Newcastle, Moyes played the Ward-Prowse question with a straight bat – pointing out he has ‘a tough job picking his own team let alone picking Gareth’s’.
The Scot also pointed out England have a plethora of superb midfielders in competition with Ward-Prowse in a bid to quieten the noise.
Someone who was happy to criticise Southgate’s decision, though, was ex England star Owen Hargreaves who slammed the England boss for his snub.
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