David Moyes bemoaned his West Ham side’s lack of attacking threat in their 4-1 hammering at Aston Villa and revealed his growing temptation to throw Mohammed Kudus into his Premier League XI.
The Hammers suffered their first major setback of the season as goals from Ollie Watkins, Leon Bailey and a Douglas Luiz double saw Villa record an 11th straight home league win.
West Ham briefly threatened a second-half comeback after Jarrod Bowen’s deflected strike had halved the deficit at 2-1 but, that brief period aside, struggled to trouble Emiliano Martinez in the Villa goal.
“We weren't resilient when we had to be defensively but, more importantly, every ball we played in and around the box was the wrong decision,” Moyes said. “We couldn't pick anyone out and it led to us hardly creating any chances to score.
“I see Aston Villa as a really, really good side, good style, good formation, hard to play against. But we could’ve punished them today like we have Brighton or Chelsea, other teams at a similar level. But today, we didn’t get the clear opportunities because we didn’t make it from the chances we had to make the opportunities. That was the disappointing bit for me.”
Moyes stuck by what has become a settled starting XI in the League this term, meaning summer signing Kudus was once again left on the bench.
The Ghanaian has impressed in the cup competitions and in a series of cameos, scoring an equaliser off the bench in the 2-2 draw with Newcastle just before the international break, but continued to wait for a first League start.
“I’m tempted to start Kudus every game,” Moyes said. “But I have to be fair and say that the team’s played quite well. Obviously, we’ve got a balance that we’re trying to find and get that right as well.
“Sometimes our balance has been very good and got us some good results. Now and again sometimes it can cause you problems as well.”
