Pundit rips into West Ham United stars after what he saw at London Stadium – ‘Awful’
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 display against Bristol City in the FA Cup third round was “awful” and ripped into Kurt Zouma and Angelo Ogbonna.
The Championship outfit earned a deserved draw against the Hammers at London Stadium on Sunday (7 January) to force an FA Cup third-round replay.
It went from bad to worse for David Moyes and his men when Jarrod Bowen, Konstantinos Mavropanos and Lucas Paqueta all went off injured with news emerging on Tuesday (Roshane Thomas, 9 January) that both Bowen and Paqueta now out of action for up to a month.
And McAvennie believes West Ham can’t keep relying on the likes of Paqueta and Mohammed Kudus.
Speaking to West Ham Zone, McAvennie said: “I hadn’t slept for a while so it was great to watch that because I fell asleep.
“It was an awful display, and I can’t understand why we can beat teams like Manchester United but then perform like that.
“Surely we can’t keep relying on Paqueta and Kudus that much, I’m not having that, wonderful players that they are but I’m not having that.
“I’m looking at the two centre-halves, Ogbonna and Zouma, and I’m thinking ‘I’m 64 and I’m quicker than them’, I don’t know if they were carrying injuries or not but they looked as if they couldn’t run.
“I might be doing them a disservice here but they were terrible. When I saw Zouma coming over to stop an attacker, it looked as if he was in second gear or something.”
“In today’s modern game, you need quick centre-backs and that’s a given. Listen, I’m delighted where West Ham United and where David Moyes has taken the club but performances like that are unacceptable.”
In other West Ham news, one player wants to leave the Hammers amid a £30million development.