Exclusive: McAvennie urges Moyes to name strong West Ham XI v Stockport in FA Cup
We’re delighted to welcome former West Ham United striker Frank McAvennie as our exclusive columnist. Each week he’ll be giving his views on the biggest talking points at the London Stadium…
Frank McAvennie has called on West Ham manager David Moyes to name a strong starting line-up for Monday night’s FA Cup clash with Stockport County.
West Ham have failed to make it past the fourth round in each of their last four seasons with West Brom, AFC Wimbledon and Wigan knocking them out the last three years.
However, with Premier League survival seemingly guaranteed this season due to the way the Irons have started the campaign, McAvennie believes a run in the cup is just what his former club needs.
“For me and all the fans, it’s important,” McAvennie told West Ham Zone.
“I don’t understand how managers are like, ‘we’re playing too many games’, you’re only playing the same number of games as other managers. Players want to play.
“Listen, West Ham aren’t going to win the league and the best they can get is to challenge for Europe sometimes.
“The best teams don’t always win the cup, the best team always wins the league because it’s over 38 games. But the best teams don’t always win the FA Cup so West Ham can go up against anyone in a one-off game.”
In order to go far in the competition, McAvennie has called on David Moyes to name a strong starting line-up regardless of opposition.
West Ham will travel to Edgeley Park to play Stockport on Monday with Jim Gannon’s men performing well in the National League this season as they sit fourth after 14 games.
While many would see it as an opportunity for the youngsters to get some game-time, McAvennie believes the trip to Stockport could be more beneficial to players like Sebastien Haller or Said Benrahma.
He added: “Why should you play the youngsters? If it was me, I’d want to play.
“I’d want to bring up my goal tally against Stockport if I was Haller. I’d say: ‘I want to play, I want to get goals, I want that confidence’.
“If I was Benrahma I’d say: ‘I want to play because I want confidence and want to improve my touch’.
“I’d be surprised if these boys don’t want to play.
“I hope they play a strong team because I’m fed up of hearing about concentrating on the league.”
West Ham should be able to name a far superior team to Stockport even if Moyes made 11 changes to his team ahead of kick-off.
Certain fringe players like Andriy Yarmolenko, Robert Snodgrass, Craig Dawson, David Martin and Mark Noble could all get a game. If they played, you’d expect the Hammers to win easily.
However, this is the FA Cup. Anything can happen as we saw with Wimbledon a couple of years ago.
In other West Ham news, Spurs could make a move to sign Issa Diop this month.