WHZ View: Alarming stat lays bare Moyes’ West Ham mistake v Brighton
West Ham twice came from behind to draw 2-2 with Brighton on Sunday afternoon as a strange Hammers team was selected by David Moyes.
Only two attacking players started the game in the shape of Jarrod Bowen and Sebastien Haller and what came next was incredibly predictable.
The Irons struggled to break forward and attack in the first half as the team looked as if it was set up to defend an unrelenting attack.
This is strange as Brighton have been poor this season and most Hammers fans will have expected a routine win against Graham Potter’s side.
An alarming stat about the Hammers’ first-half performance has proved just how wrong Moyes’ team selection was.
According to Infogol, the Hammers registered an expected goals rate (xG) of just 0.12 in the first half of their game against Brighton.
Essentially, this means that Moyes’ side were never going to score and of course this makes sense because of the incredibly poor team selection.
What did Moyes expect?
Andriy Yarmolenko and Manuel Lanzini came off the bench and helped to rescue a point as the Hammers were better offensively when they had more attackers on the pitch.
This may seem blindingly obvious but it is a fact that was seemingly overlooked by Moyes as he chose who to play against the Seagulls.
For the most part, Moyes has had a good season and some of his tactical decisions have worked wonders.
However, you can’t help but worry that he seems to have made such a poor call which has undoubtedly cost his side points.
The Hammers take on Southampton in two days time and Moyes has to make sure he selects a suitable team for what could prove to be a much harder tie than Sunday’s game.
Hopefully, part of his decision to not play the likes of Said Benrahma and Pablo Fornals against the Seagulls is so that he can play them against the Saints on Tuesday.
If this is the case then his team selection on Sunday may make more sense but it will still prove to be a baffling and ultimately poor decision.
In other West Ham news, Moyes has opened up about his team selection and admitted that he made a mistake.