David Moyes admits to West Ham concern despite one star finding form
David Moyes has vowed to make use of Manuel Lanzini more after his consolation goal for West Ham in their loss to Manchester City – but admitted to some concerns about their attack as a whole.
West Ham battled in tough conditions but suffered a 2-1 defeat to City at the Etihad Stadium on Sunday. Ilkay Gundogan and Fernandinho scored in either half for City before Lanzini pulled one back late on for the visitors.
The Hammers remain in the top four despite the defeat, but have now lost consecutive Premier League games either side of a Europa League victory over Rapid Wien.
Moyes knew it would be tough against champions City, but still saw some positives to take.
“The real quality at the end is a difference quite often,” he said at his post-match press conference. “Man City are full of quality and good players.
“We’ve done lots of good things today. But when we got the chances to either know create a good opening or to maybe finish a good chance off we didn’t take it. You don’t come to Man City and get loads of them but we did our best to make some.”
It took until the last kick of the game for Moyes’ men to score courtesy of Lanzini. The attacker has struggled with injuries across his West Ham career but remains capable of producing a standout moment.
Moyes admitted that Lanzini is getting back on track and that he will look to utilise him at the right moments.
“Manu is starting to find some pretty good form I’ve got to say,” Moyes said. “He came on and he played well against Aston Villa. He’s getting a little bit more regular games and he looks in better condition.
“So I’m pleased for him. I thought he did okay today when he came on and obviously getting a goal is a bonus. But overall, he’s a really important part of the team and we’ll keep using him where we see the right time and the right place.”
David Moyes admits attacking concerns
It was then put to Moyes, though, that he may be concerned about the form of some of his attack.
The manager responded: “Yes I am and I have told them we need them to be better in that area.
“I think we’ve had opportunities and I think when you get to the top end if you want to be at the top you have to have forward players who individually can beat people and can create goals and can make goals, can be clean with the chances and I don’t think we have been in recent games.
“I think I can even go back to Europe. We won in Europe in midweek but I still thought in our attacking play we could have been much cleaner with our chances.
“It is something we need to work on but if you play Man City with the quality they have got in their individual talent and also their ability to beat you one v one or score means that you’ve got to take your opportunities when you get them.”
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