There has not been a new manager bounce for David Moyes at West Ham United following his appointment at the end of December. He has won just two matches in his first nine in charge, with the Hammers falling into the relegation zone at the weekend after surrendering a two-goal lead against Brighton & Hove Albion.
West Ham led 3-1 going into the final third of the match, but Brighton pulled back two late goals to earn a point. This result highlighted several ongoing issues for the Hammers this season which may prove to be costly if they are not addressed.
Mistakes Proving Costly for West Ham United
Individual Errors
Moyes’ side have made the most errors leading to goals this season (eight) in the Premier League – joint with Aston Villa and Newcastle United.
Before his loan to Spanish side Deportivo in January, goalkeeper Roberto made some calamitous errors which cost the Hammers points. Most notably in the 3-0 defeat against Burnley in November, he failed to catch numerous crosses then eventually spilt the ball into his own net.
With first-choice keeper Lukasz Fabianski returning to the starting line-up, more stability in goal and defence was anticipated. Unfortunately, the trend of individual errors continued against Brighton. Fabianski punched the ball against Angelo Ogbonna for Brighton’s first goal just after half-time, then Ogbonna, centre-back partner Issa Diop and Fabianski failed to communicate and clear a simple ball which Pascal Groß seized on for Brighton’s second with 15 minutes remaining and subsequently put pressure on West Ham and led to Brighton’s equaliser minutes later.
Such mistakes at Premier League level don’t go unpunished and the re-occurrence of such defending is costing West Ham vital points.
Underperforming Players
The club possess some quality in their squad, but neither Manuel Pellegrini nor David Moyes have been able to get the best out of these players.
Summer signing Sebastian Haller is struggling for form and has scored two goals since October. The striker arrived at West Ham from Eintracht Frankfurt with a good record, he scored 29 goals in two seasons for the German side, but he is often left isolated up front and rarely challenges effectively for duels or closes down with urgency.
Manuel Lanzini is also struggling for form this season and looks so low on confidence. The Argentinean was a star during the Hammers 2015/16 season when they reached the Europa League and was a regular feature of the West Ham midfield for the past two seasons. However, he has contributed little recently with two assists in 19 games. He missed a great chance in the 2-0 defeat to Liverpool in January and was booed by the London Stadium when he was eventually substituted.
The recent FA Cup fixture against West Bromwich Albion exposed many underperforming players, prompting a triple substitution from Moyes at half-time and highlighted how poor certain personnel have been this season.
Fabián Balbuena gave the ball away with sloppy passing countless times and was taken off with a pass success rate of 65%. Declan Rice was caught in possession which led to Charlie Austin missing a huge chance and West Brom players Conor Townsend and Kyle Edwards were allowed the entirety of the left-wing to run at Pablo Zabaleta.
Dropping Points From Winning Positions
The draw against Brighton on Saturday was not the first match this season where Moyes’ team dropped points as they have given up 19 points from winning positions this season – the most amount of points dropped in the Premier League. If they held on when going ahead this season, West Ham would be fourth in the current table on 43 points.
The Hammers took the lead in three recent games against Everton, Crystal Palace and Arsenal, but only managed to secure one point from these fixtures. The Arsenal match was most similar to the Brighton draw as West Ham led 1-0 for around 30 minutes before a nine-minute capitulation saw them concede three goals and all three points.
Most of these points are squandered at the London Stadium. West Ham have either lost or drawn from winning positions on five occasions at home this season, which will be a huge concern for Moyes.
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