West Ham United manager David Moyes had mixed feelings of pride, disappointment and frustration following Saturday's 3-1 Premier League defeat by Manchester United at London Stadium.
Moyes was proud of his side’s dominant display for the opening hour, frustrated by the decision to award the visitors' controversial 65th-minute equaliser, and disappointed by the way his players reacted to falling behind three minutes later.
The Hammers had much the better of the first 60 minutes at London Stadium, roared on by a vociferous 2,000-strong crowd in the first Premier League game with supporters present in almost nine months.
While it was Tomáš Souček who got their goal – poking in at the back post from a rehearsed Declan Rice flick-on – Pablo Fornals hit both side-netting and woodwork, while Jarrod Bowen and Sebastien Haller each missed good opportunities to consolidate the lead. As it was, the Irons went in at half-time with just a slender single-goal lead.
It had been an impressive display against a Manchester United team also in positive form – but one which ultimately ended in defeat after Paul Pogba, Mason Greenwood and Marcus Rashford netted clinical finishes inside the final half-an-hour.
We’ve been on a really good run and the players played well tonight. The important thing is to keep the performances good
David Moyes
“I thought we played well tonight,” Moyes told West Ham TV. “I think for the majority of the season we’ve played well – maybe not against Aston Villa – but the players picked it up tonight and went and showed what they can do.
“I thought we did play well. The big thing really was not getting a second goal, and obviously things didn’t go for us after that. Also, then, we weren’t really able to respond once we went 2-1 down and eventually gave a third goal away.
“I think we’re getting better. We’re trying to improve all the performances. As I said we’ve had a couple we’ve not been so pleased about, but tonight I’m not disappointed with the performance, I’m disappointed that we didn’t take our opportunities – and we had our opportunities tonight.
“Could we be clinical? Could we make the right pass, or the right choice, whether it’s a shooting decision or a crossing decision? Quite often, tonight, we didn’t, when we had a chance to do a really good job and get a big win tonight and make a big statement.”
The visitors’ equaliser came courtesy of a contentious call as to whether Dean Henderson’s long kick up-field drifted out of play, causing West Ham players to momentarily stop and starting the move which led to Pogba’s successful shot.
Stood on the touchline and possessing a clear view of the flight of the ball above his head, Moyes was disappointed in the decision, but believes his players need to recover quicker from that kind of incident going forwards.
“I believe a hundred per cent it was over my head and the ball was out,” he said. “It was a throw-in. The goalkeeper kicked it out of the pitch and it came back in. As you can see, three or four of the players stopped because we all knew it was out.
“The linesman said that he turned away because he was looking for the offside. It’s not to turn away – you have to see the flight of the ball. In truth, with VAR now, he hardly needs to look at the offside because they’ve got that covered whether he’s got it wrong or right.
“We let that disappointment last and it dwelt on us. The players can’t let it do so on the pitch. They’ve got to move on quickly and not let it last too long. Unfortunately they did.
“We need to go again. We’ve been on a really good run and the players played well tonight. The important thing is to keep the performances good and hopefully the results will come with it.”
Moyes also took the opportunity to praise the West Ham United supporters in attendance, hoping that Saturday marked merely the first stage in the return of the full Claret and Blue Army to London Stadium.
He said: “It was great to have them back. I’m looking forward to having them all back but tonight was a start – 2,000 of them, and it was great.
“I’m disappointed we didn’t get them a result, but I think for long periods of the game they had played really well and hopefully they’ll see those positive signs.”
