West Ham United: David Moyes must hook Vladimir Coufal at half-time v Newcastle United
David Moyes must bite the bullet and hook Vladimir Coufal at half-time if West Ham are to keep their 2-1 lead against Newcastle United on Saturday (30 March).
Alexander Isak opened the scoring after just six minutes before Michail Antonio latched onto a delicious pass over the top from Lucas Paqueta to equalise, with Mohammed Kudus scoring a second deep into added time.
Having backed up their impressive 5-0 victory over Freiburg in the Europa League with a hard-fought draw against Aston Villa on Sunday 17 March, West Ham were in good enough form to take the Magpies on.
Vladimir Coufal must be replaced after first-half West Ham catastrophe
Moyes’ side got off to an awful start, however, as Coufal gave away a penalty within the first three minutes, raking his studs down the back of Anthony Gordon’s leg.
It looked, for a moment, that VAR might spare the Czechia international’s blushes, only for the spot-kick to be awarded and Alexander Isak to oblige from 12 yards out.
The full-back’s sloppiness continued throughout the first 45 minutes, only able to maintain a 60 per cent pass completion and a 0 per cent long ball accuracy. [FotMob]
Coufal has clearly struggled to deal with Gordon on the right flank, allowing the former Everton winger into the penalty area and looking especially lost when Joe Willock made overlapping runs.
This was evident in his first-half statistics, having won 0 per cent of his ground and aerial duels. [FotMob]
With Ben Johnson waiting on the bench, having not started a match since the 6-0 loss to Arsenal in February, Moyes must make the difficult decision to hook his preferred right-back.
The 31-year-old has been a mainstay in the West Ham starting XI this season, but it appears that Coufal is experiencing a bad day at the office, something that Moyes must consider at the half-time break.
In other West Ham news, another update has emerged on David Moyes’ future.
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