West Ham United manager David Moyes has been warned by one of his players that he needs to set his teams up in away that makes opponents more ‘scared’ of them.
Speaking after West Ham beat Wolves 2-1 on Saturday, Hammers defender Ben Johnson gave his thoughts to the club’s official site, and he didn’t hold back as he seemed to quite strongly question Moyes’ initial approach to the game.
“The three subs who came on, including myself, changed the game as the intensity improved, and that’s just sometimes how football goes when one half is different to the other,” Johnson said.
“I was just trying to run with the ball and beat players and create something and see what we could do and I felt we did that well and it always puts teams on the back foot and they give a bit you more time and they’re scared of you.
“My job is to play as well as I can. I just try and beat players, run past them and keep the ball and get my teammates involved. It’s important that we’ve got players who can beat players as they win football matches – you see it all the time. The subs who came on were brilliant from front to back.”
It will be interesting to see if Moyes learns anything from this and listens to his players’ feedback, or if he continues to assert his authority by sticking to what he feels he knows best.