By Daniel Lewis

16th Sep, 2023 | 11:10am

David Moyes aiming to make West Ham United less reliant on James-Ward Prowse

David Moyes is hoping to make West Ham less reliant on the set-piece deliveries of James Ward-Prowse, according to journalist Jacob Steinberg.

Ward-Prowse has made a huge impact since arriving at the London Stadium last month, assisting three goals and scoring one in three Premier League appearances.

However, Moyes is supposedly looking to adapt West Ham’s style so that they have different tools in their arsenal when it comes to breaking teams down.

Steinberg wrote for The Guardian [15 September]: “While West Ham know how to survive without the ball, the aim is still to become less reliant on James Ward-Prowse’s set-piece deliveries and incisive counter-attacks from Michail Antonio and Jarrod Bowen.”

Makes sense

West Ham are simply playing to their strengths.

The key aspects to their strong start to the season has been taking full advantage of set-pieces thanks to Ward-Prowse’s wand of a boot, as well as ripping apart opponents on the counter.

There is no harm in continuing to utilise these strengths, which will likely be the case against Manchester City on Saturday [16 September].

However, while corners and free-kicks will still be hard to defend – or hard to save if Ward-Prowse takes on the shot – opposition teams will become far wiser to West Ham’s counter-attacks as the season goes on.

There is therefore no harm in Moyes adapting the side when it comes to facing varying levels of opponents, as long as it does not swing too far away from the current set-up.

In other West Ham news, a BBC Sport pundit has named the one player who could prove the difference against Man City.