Mastermind David Moyes answered more questions emphatically during West Ham United’s 2-1 win over Wolves yesterday.
West Ham earned a vital three points in the Premier League against Wolves, and it was mastermind David Moyes who made the necessary changes at half-time that eventually helped us win the game.
However, the Scot was somewhat to blame for the poor first-half performance. The players were nowhere near the levels they needed to be, but the decisions to leave Michail Antonio on the bench and to play Jarrod Bowen and Lucas Paqueta out of position really were poor ones.
Wolves were all over us inside the first 45 minutes, and it seemed for all the world like it would be a wasted journey for the 3,000 Hammers fans who made the trip up to the Black Country.
However, things turned around after the break. The West Ham players were at it, and they gained a real foothold in the game.
However, it wasn’t just the half-time subs from Moyes that helped change the game. He made another really brave decision that could have backfired badly on another day…
Mastermind David Moyes made a genius move
The Scot has received plenty of criticism from certain sections of the Hammers fanbase this season.
Moyes has really struggled to impact games from the touchline over the past year or so, but that all changed yesterday.
When Bowen went off injured nine minutes into the second-half, the West Ham fans could have been forgiven for thinking that the game, and in fact our season, was all but over.
Thankfully for the Hammers, Bowen’s injury doesn’t seem to be too serious, and that’s good news for our hopes of achieving success this season.
However, the thing that really baffled the West Ham fans was the fact that Moyes brought on Aaron Cresswell to replace the 27-year-old.
I was dumbfounded when Moyes made the call to introduce the 34-year-old into the game, rather than bringing on Maxwel Cornet or Danny Ings. However, it turned out to be a master-stroke.
The sub allowed Emerson Palmieri to move up to left wing, and Mohammed Kudus to switch over to his best and most natural position on the right.
When Cresswell entered the fray we had far more control in the game, and the left-back’s passing out from the back helped us establish a real level of authority in the contest.
It was a really brave call from Moyes – a left field move that could have backfired spectacularly. Had we gone on to lose to Wolves, the decision to bring on Cresswell would have been used as a stick to beat the Scot with.
And who knows, it could well have been the final nail in his coffin.
Alas, we won the game in the end, and that was down to mastermind David Moyes making a really, really bold substitution after 54 minutes.
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