West Ham United team news: David Moyes has made Maxwel Cornet error v Bayer Leverkusen
West Ham go into their Europa League quarter-final second leg against Bayer Leverkusen trailing 2-0 on aggregate, and David Moyes should’ve picked Maxwel Cornet in a more attack-minded side.
The Ivory Coast winger should be starting ahead of left-back Aaron Cresswell with West Ham having no choice but to go for broke in this game, and David Moyes could rue his decision to leave Cornet on the bench.
Cornet has only been a bit-part player under Moyes this season, but having scored 7.3 on Sofascore against TSC in his last Europa League appearance, he is the clear choice ahead of Cresswell, who was run ragged by Leverkusen in the first leg.
Moyes said in the aftermath of the first leg that West Ham overturning their two-goal deficit would take “some performance” at the London Stadium, and so picking a more attacking side with Cornet at left-wing-back would have made a lot of sense
West Ham posted on X with their full starting XI ahead of the crucial match at the BayArena, with the listing of players indicating that just as in the first leg, they will line up in a 5-2-3 formation.
Lukasz Fabianski is between the sticks and has a packed defensive rearguard ahead of him, with Nayef Aguerd returning after playing no part in the first leg alongside captain Kurt Zouma and the previously suspended Edson Alvarez.
Alvarez slotting into one of the three centre-back roles means that Cresswell, in the absence of the suspended Emerson Palmieri, is at left-wing-back with Vladimir Coufal on the opposite side having played left centre-back last week.
Lucas Paqueta is also suspended after picking up a needless yellow card in the first leg, meaning James Ward-Prowse and Tomas Soucek will provide West Ham’s creativity from midfield.
The absence of Paqueta’s running and passing is another reason Cornet could and should be back in the side, although the fast-tracked return from injury of Jarrod Bowen will be a welcome sight to everyone at the London Stadium.
Bowen, Mohammed Kudus and Michail Antonio will undoubtedly link up well in the attack, but Cornet’s bursting runs forward from left-wing-back would offer West Ham a much more dynamic option in the final third than Cresswell.
Cornet could well be being saved as a second-half option from the bench if the game is in the balance, but with their backs to the wall, West Ham ideally need to be on the front foot from the very first whistle.
Hopefully, for Moyes’ sake, West Ham will have enough in the attacking third without Cornet to cause Leverkusen some problems.
In other West Ham news, a new update has emerged surrounding the Hammers’ pursuit of Brentford forward Ivan Toney this summer.
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