Pundit left stunned by West Ham United stars Mohammed Kudus, Jarrod Bowen and Lucas Paqueta after recent development as ‘perfection’ claim made
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 admits the West Ham United win over Wolves last weekend should be the way they play every week after Mohammed Kudus, Lucas Paqueta and Jarrod Bowen “ran the show” for David Moyes.
West Ham United returned to winning ways in the Premier League against Wolves last weekend after their 5-0 thrashing defeat to Fulham but saw their EFL Cup hopes end in similar fashion against Liverpool on Wednesday night (20 December) in a 5-1 quarter-final loss at Anfield.
David Moyes made several changes to his side against Jurgen Klopp’s men with Paqueta a second-half substitute whilst Kudus and Bowen featured in a lacklustre performance from the Hammers.
And McAvennie speaking to West Ham Zone, shared that the displays of Moyes’ ever-present stars against Wolves was one of perfection but believes Moyes should have gone strong against Liverpool.
He said: “Paqueta, Kudus and Bowen, I mean, it’s just three of them for me, forget the rest of them but the performances of the three of them were just pure perfection.
“Paqueta has got to be in midfield though, he’s not a left-winger, you can’t put him out on the wing, they were just running the show against Wolves.
“In my opinion, I just want West Ham United to play that football every week and all the time and in the game against Liverpool, I was hoping they were going to do a job and Moyes would play his strongest side and don’t bring in any fringe players or kids.
“Go and try and win a trophy David, not use your second-string players. That’s what we would have wanted.
“You saw what happened when they won the Europa Conference League, you try and get us to Wembley, that would have been ideal and the fans would have absolutely loved Moyes.
“Whatever happens at the end of the season, you get us to Wembley and he would be down in West Ham United folklore.”
The Hammers simply did not lay a single glove or a foot on the Reds as they completely tore apart a hapless defence that possessed an inconsistent Vladimir Coufal, an unready Konstantinos Mavropanos and a past-his-best Angelo Ogbonna.
Such changes by Moyes were only going to lead one way and the West Ham United manager must take the brunt of the blame for his side’s lack of intensity, quality, aggression and simple basics in defending during the game.
Why Moyes did not play all of Paqueta, Kudus and Bowen will have certainly left fans baffled even if they face off against Manchester United a few days later.
Fans want to see the Hammers challenging for the domestic honours as much as in the Premier League.
In other West Ham news, BBC pundit Chris Sutton has shared his prediction ahead of Saturday’s clash with Manchester United and launched an attack on Erik ten Hag after what he saw recently.