Pundit rages at ‘terrible’ David Moyes decisions on Lucas Paqueta and Tomas Soucek after what he’s heard from West Ham United fans
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 he is baffled by David Moyes’ decisions at West Ham United regarding Tomas Soucek and Lucas Paqueta’s positions in the team.
Fresh off the back of an impressive 2-1 win over Tottenham Hotspur (7 December), Moyes’ men fell to a disastrous 5-0 defeat to Fulham just a few days later (10 December), with a sickness bug said to have reaped havoc throughout the squad.
The thoroughly-deserved victory lifted Fulham into the top half of the table, three points behind ninth-placed West Ham who missed the chance to climb into the Premier League’s top six.
McAvennie, asked what he thought of the Hammers’ recent performances bar the Tottenham result, described it as “terrible” and left baffled at Moyes’ decisions to deploy Paqueta out.
Speaking to West Ham Zone, McAvennie said: “I do not know what is happening with David and Soucek.
“Soucek may be scoring goals, but he’s not playing well. Moyes can do what he wants with his team but you can’t put Paqueta out wide. I’m thinking what? You can’t put him out there.
“You gotta keep players like that happy, put them in their correct positions in midfield.
“Soucek looks like he doesn’t want to get involved in the play but wants to get on the end of crosses so put him out wide because he can still make his runs into the box and score goals because that’s all he’s doing at the moment.
I don’t think he’s contributing too much more. Speaking to several supporters, they’re saying he’s not contributing enough. He’s scoring goals which is great because he wasn’t even doing that a couple of months ago, but doing it now.
“Put Soucek forward or out wide and put Paqueta back in the midfield because that’s where he belongs.
“I’ve always said West Ham United have got better players than a counter-attacking team. They’ve got better players than that.
“Last year or the year before, they did not have good players, so you had to play counter-attack but this team can keep the ball and play and I’d love to see them do that.
“The way Moyes plays in Europe is good, counter-attacking, but not for the Premier League. Good for games against Liverpool or Manchester City but not Crystal Palace or Fulham.”
In other West Ham United news, Tony Gale saw something he had never previously witnessed a player do in the Hammers’ loss at Fulham.