By Sam Stone

20th Sep, 2022 | 8:43am

Flynn Downes must be given West Ham United shot after Tomas Soucek awful form

David Moyes surely has to give Flynn Downes a first-team shot after Tomas Soucek’s horrendous early season form for West Ham.

The Czech Republic international has been a shadow of his former self, with his latest performance in the Hammers’ defeat to Everton highlighting the need for change in midfield.

Downes has been a peripheral figure since his arrival from Swansea but has been given the chance to feature in the Europa Conference League, which has seen the 23-year-old stake a claim for more first-team minutes.

We all know that Moyes can be very rigid and stubborn when it comes to his team selection and the formation he likes to deploy, but after Soucek’s consistent run of poor performances, the West Ham boss has to change things up in order to get a tune out of his side.

Considering that Moyes spent in excess of £150million this summer, it’s criminal that some of his new additions haven’t featured or are just being given limited game time.

How can Gianluca Scamacca be expected to make a consistent impact and get used to the demands of the Premier League with the odd 15-minute cameo appearance? Moyes is handling the situation in the wrong way at the moment and the likes of Scamacca and Downes will begin to become unsettled if he doesn’t give them more minutes.

Downes in particular must be perplexed as to why he hasn’t been asked to partner Declan Rice after watching Soucek play next to him.

West Ham face Wolves, Fulham and Southampton in their next three fixtures, where nothing less than seven points will see the pressure really start to mount on Moyes.