West Ham fell to a 4-3 defeat to Crystal Palace as they suffer back to back losses in their relegation scrap. David Moyes speaks on injuries and performance.
As a neutral fan, Saturdays game was thrilling, however for West Ham it was another loss to their name. Tomas Soucek opened the scoring in just ten minutes, with Michail Antonio & Nayef Aguerd also gaining their place on the scoresheet.
Manager David Moyes has spoken to West Ham’s website on his thoughts on the performance against London rivals Crystal Palace.
“Overall our performance didn’t warrant us getting much out of the game.” explained Moyes. “I was hoping we’d get a point in the end but I didn’t think we played well enough.“ he added.
The hammers saw their five-game unbeaten run come to an end this afternoon at Selhurst Park, as fans were hopeful things would end well this season. Moyes however was not impressed with the performance as he told whufc.com he didn’t feel the team got to grips with the game straight away.
“We lost a lot of first balls, we lost a lot of second balls, I nearly felt that every ball in midfield went to them and we never picked anything up.”
“They kept the pressure on us and we didn’t deal with that part of the game well enough. That’s the reason why we didn’t take anything out of it.”
There is no doubt that the team have had a tough game schedule, with West Ham preparing for the Conference League semi-final, and Moyes feels that this may play a part in the results of todays game.
“Taking this game in isolation, we had to play on Wednesday and Palace played on Tuesday, which gives them a little bit of a lead in an early kick-off. I don’t want to use it as an excuse but it’s certainly a reason why we’ve maybe not been at our best today.” He explained.
Moyes also spoke out on an update on Kurt Zouma’s injury after going down in the nineteenth minute with an ankle issue. This looks to be a huge loss to the team, after being a staple defender this season. The manager confirmed “He’s rolled his ankle and it has swollen up so we’ll get him scanned tomorrow and see how it is.”. With later confirmation Kurt Zouma had left Selhurst Park in a protective boot.
With all three goals coming from set pieces, Moyes explained how he felt today was the best the team have looked in that area, “It’s probably the best we’ve been on set plays this season.” he said. Despite the goals, the team looked weak in open play, which he also spoke on his frustration with this.
“But we never made enough chances in open play at all and that’s the bit that bothers me, that I can’t get enough goals in open play from the players I’ve got in the team.” Moyes admitted
“We look a threat when we’ve got a corner kick or a free-kick, but open play is becoming a problem at the moment.”
Despite the loss, David Moyes has spoken to the team on their professionalism and his aim now is to try and keep the team spirits high. With a tough game on Wednesday against Manchester City, it will be important for them to rest and keep the confidence for the remainder of the season.
“You can’t question the players’ spirit at all to try and get back in the game.”
“I’ve told the players that after the game, I can never question their professionalism or their work. They do try, maybe we’re lacking a bit of quality at the moment, or confidence in bits of our passing, or how we play out of the back.” he added.
