I don’t want to criticise David Moyes too much after West Ham United lost to Bayer Leverkusen last night, but there was one mistake he made that really hit home.
In the Europa League match against Leverkusen, West Ham played their standard defensive style, although David Moyes’s strategy ultimately proved to be unworkable.
On that particular night, Leverkusen was just too strong for us, as Lucas Paqueta and other important players failed to perform well against Xabi Alonso’s team.
The problem is that the German team is currently among the greatest in the world, so if we had gone into the match with an open mind and an aggressive style, we would have lost badly.
But there must be some equilibrium. You can’t just stand by and let the enemy win for ninety minutes.
There has to be a give-in at some point, and that’s precisely what happened. Why didn’t we attempt to take advantage of the opportunity again during the game, as Michail Antonio demonstrated in the opening fifteen minutes that Jonathan Tah couldn’t live with him?
Overall, the performance was far too passive, but Moyes made one particular error that was particularly brought to light last night.
£21.5 million David Moyes mistake made Leverkusen defeat even more painful
First off, I must state that since making his second trip back to the London Stadium in December 2019, the Scot has accomplished a great deal.
He led us to three successful European campaigns in a row, and the previous season marked the end of our 43-year major trophy drought.
But his copy book does include a few oddities, and one of those mistakes really came back to haunt him last night.
The Hammers were laboring in Germany last night while Gianluca Scamacca was ripping it up for Atalanta versus Liverpool at Anfield.
TThe Serie A team defeated Jurgen Klopp’s team 3-0 thanks to two goals from the 25-year-old, who Moyes signed for about £35 million in the summer of 2022.
In the summer of 2023, West Ham lost over £10 million on the sale of Scamacca to Atalanta when they sold him (talkSPORT) for £21.5 million.
And in my view, that was a grave mistake. When we desperately needed a goal last night, Moyes didn’t have a single attacker he felt comfortable starting off the bench.
The Italian hitman might have become a huge hit at the London Stadium if the Scot had held onto him and tried to bring out the best in him.
The huge error that Moyes committed when he sold Scamacca eight months ago finally paid out during our loss to Leverkusen on the road last night. It’s unfortunate that the Hammers manager lost up on the striker so soon.
