Injuries played part in West Ham defeat against Manchester City – Danny Murphy
Danny Murphy says that West Ham United’s injuries hampered their chances against Manchester City in their Premier League opener on Sunday.
The Hammers lost 2-0 while playing at home to the defending champions with both the goals coming from Erling Haaland in either half.
Murphy, while speaking on Match of the Day 2, stated that injuries did play a part in the side’s defeat with numerous issues haunting David Moyes.
“They haven’t had a great deal of luck with injuries. The big blow for West Ham is the injury to [Nayef] Aguerd,” he said.
“I know it is difficult to do that against Manchester City. But, I feel that they could have attacked more in the second half. I feel that West Ham fans would be a little disappointed in that part.”
There is no shame in losing to one of the best teams in the world and the current Premier League champions.
With the injury crisis that they have in their defence, it is safe to say that they couldn’t have played a team of Manchester City’s quality at a worse possible time.
Before they look into their future Premier League games and the Europa Conference League, it is important that they get a few more bodies in the defensive line.
New signing Aguerd suffered an ankle injury in the preseason and will be out until the end of 2022. Even though Ben Johnson and Kurt Zouma started in the opening Premier League fixture, they cannot be considered a reliable defensive pairing.
Zouma has had his own bad luck with injuries. On the other hand, Johnson played as a right-back for most of last season.
Apart from the recruitment, they must try to be a bit bolder and try to take the game to the opposition, which we didn’t see in the Manchester City game as well.
The inclusion of Gianluca Scamacca from the bench did create some problems for the winning team and it is important that Moyes must start the newly-signed forward in the next match.