Jeff Stelling slams West Ham United lack of creativity as footage emerges live on Sky Sports
Jeff Stelling has laid siege on David Moyes’ West Ham United side live on Sky Sports after footage emerged of their dismal display against Tottenham last week.
The Hammers only managed one shot on target during the 2-0 defeat last Sunday (19 February), which in turn saw them fall into the Premier League relegation zone with 15 games of the season remaining.
Reacting to footage of several failed West Ham attacks, live on Sky Sports Soccer Saturday (25 February, 12:24pm), Stelling was heavily critical of the service that Michail Antonio received in attack, and the lack of creative players Moyes decided to field in his starting line-up.
He said: “They’ve failed to score in 10 of their 23 games, I looked at the game against Spurs this week, he’s [Antonio] got Soucek and Downes in midfield, he’s got flair players like Benrahma, Lanzini and Fornals on the bench.
“If you looked at him last week against Spurs, he’s up front against Spurs, the ball is banged up to him. Look at this, what are you meant to do with that.”
Negative
Moyes was extremely negative in the choice of his West Ham United team last week, but he was without Lucas Paqueta and Gianluca Scamacca, so you can see why he decided to shut up shop from the first whistle.
His starting line-up was justified, but how he didn’t change up the tactics when they fell behind in the second half is bewildering. The choice to take Antonio off in place of Danny Ings when the team were 2-0 down was a strange one.
Why play one forward when you can field two, and why play Ings as a sole striker when he is better playing alongside another forward?
The Hammers’ defence has more than enough quality to deal with the threat that Nottingham Forest will pose on Saturday (25 February), but Moyes must get his attack clicking into gear if they hope to claim all three points.
Failing to score in 10 out of 23 games this season is a very damning statistic, and Irons fans will hope that Ings can find his goalscoring boots if he is played from the first whistle.