A first win away from home since August hopefully gives our Hammers a boost in the dreaded relegation battle as we land in 13th place with a game in hand.
David Moyes brought out a heavily changed side, including a number of players that bought success in the previous seasons, in the hope to not embarrass himself after the 5-1 defeat on Wednesday.
The game was won with an early own goal in the first half from Harrison Reed after Declan Rice’s free-kick found the heel of Jarrod Bowen. Lukasz Fabianski seemed to bounce back and make some great saves for the team, along with Angelo Ogbonna who produced a strong defensive performance.
David Moyes spoke out after the match and seemed happy with the efforts of the boys in defence. “When you’re in trouble, you need to find a way to get results and you need defenders who know how to do their jobs and know what their responsibilities and requirements are and I thought the boys did that really well today,” the boss told the club’s Official Website.
The Premier League seems to be the our Irons downfall, after recent success in the Conference League. The team have managed to take home a total of 6/9 points from their fixtures this week, but there is still work to be done to avoid relegation. The team today looked to be determined to get something back from the game and all attention turns to the European games next week.
“I’ve got a European game now which we’re all excited about. We want to be in Europe and we’re going into another game, so for us to have started in Europe in August and still be in it in April is terrific.”
Manager Moyes made a whole string of changes from the Newcastle game in the hopes of changing things up. He modelled his team around recent years of success after reaching the final of the Europa League and finishing 7th last year and 6th the year before. He explained his thought process behind the changes being that he was always going to make them despite the results from Southampton and Newcastle earlier in the week.
“The ones I called in today, I knew them well and they knew me well, I trusted them and I thought they did everything I wanted them to do.”
A big change from the gaffer revolved around the formation and having 2 strikers up front, giving the team a different look. Moyes seemed happy with this change, but also reflected on how it also may have not worked so well in some areas.
“I think having the two boys up front gave us a different look, but it was also a problem because we couldn’t dominate the game, and that’s why we had to defend so many shots etcetera, because we had so many players on the front line.”
Written by Katie Vine
