View: David Moyes injury admission is awful for one West Ham ace
West Ham have a huge couple of weeks on the horizon as they face Chelsea, Eintracht Frankfurt twice and Arsenal in between their European semi-final.
Unfortunately, they are amid their biggest injury crisis of the season with veteran Craig Dawson the only fit senior centre-back in the squad.
As the news broke in the last few days many Hammers expressed their disapproval for Declan Rice to be dropped into centre-back but David Moyes’ most recent comments are not a good sign.
He told Evening Standard: “Maybe we’ll have to because maybe we’ve got other midfield players who can do that but we don’t have defenders who can play,” conceded Moyes.
“We have a situation where we have to say that because we have no defenders maybe he’s one who’s done it before. We’ve got midfielders who’ve done it before. That is one of our big dilemmas.
“We’ve got a juggling act to do with what we’ve got to piece it together. Can we find a four at the back, can we find a three? What do we feel could work best for us? We’re in a difficult situation for this game, it really doesn’t feel spot on. There is nothing that feels clear cut for us. We’re still looking.
“We’ll be able to find something but whether it works is a different word. We’ve got to try and make sure that we do so we’re still trying to make sure that we can. We’re really unfortunate at the moment given we’ve got three central defenders out injured.”
Crisis
The Scot conceding that “we’ve got midfielders that have done it before” clearly eludes to Rice and most likely Tomas Soucek given his defensive qualities.
Make no mistake, neither of those belong anywhere near the defence but the lesser of two evils would surely be the Czech Republic international.
He is instrumental whilst sitting and protecting the West Ham defence but he doesn’t possess the robust set of qualities that his English midfield partner does.
Rice is now a box to box with his attacking play being equally – if not more – important than his defensive duties therefore dropping him into centre-back would be a double blow and a huge mistake by Moyes.
Moyes should definitely look within his youth ranks and at least give a player like Aji Alese a shot – what is the worst that can happen? We have seen young players like Ben Johnson adjust very well and the U23 captain could do the same if he is given the chance.
Hopefully, the problem is solved without either Soucek or Rice being sacrificed.
In other West Ham news, View: The Hammers need to sign Nick Pope with a cheaper price for the keeper being reported.
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