West Ham United: David Moyes slammed by Jamie O’Hara over Newcastle United comments
Jamie O’Hara says comments made by David Moyes following the loss to Newcastle United perfectly sum up the West Ham manager.
Moyes was defending his decision to take off Michail Antonio and bring on Kalvin Phillips when West Ham were cruising at 3-1 ahead.
Newcastle turned the game on its head by coming out on top 4-3 in a thriller at St James’ Park on Saturday (30 March).
Moyes mistakenly said in his interview that he made the changes with his side 3-2 behind, rather than 3-1 ahead.
In response to that, O’Hara said on talkSPORT [30 March]: “That right there sums up David Moyes. He said 3-2 down. What do you mean? You were winning.”
David Moyes criticised for West Ham United substitutions
Moyes can be forgiven for the slip on the tongue – that happens – but West Ham fans are less forgiving in terms of the changes he made.
The Scotsman has made a habit of making the Hammers go defensive when they are ahead in games, rather than building on what they have.
The match with Newcastle was a perfect case in point. At 3-1 up and full of confidence, the game could easily have ended 4-1 or 5-1 with Newcastle throwing bodies forward.
However, by taking off an attacker and bringing on a holding midfielder, rather than bringing on another fresh attacker, Moyes gave Newcastle a chance to turn the game in their favour.
The irony, of course, is that Phillips came on and gave away the contentious penalty that provided Newcastle with their route back into the contest.
You would like to think lessons have been learned, but you honestly would not bet against Moyes doing the same thing again the next time this scenario arises.
In other West Ham news, new transfer speculation has emerged regarding Phillips on the back of an incident involving United fans.
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