After todays win David Moyes spoke to West Hams in house media team and finally gives some praise towards match winner Said Benrahma after his top quality strike against his former employers was the difference between the two teams.
Moyes said, “He has done really well when coming off the bench, he’s been an impact and you need impact substitutes, people who can make a difference and add a bit more”.
While it is good to hear the manager finally praising Benrahma his comment about him being an “impact substitute” may show where Moyes thinks Benny’s best position is, On the bench.
Benny it seems has at times been the player Moyes will name when criticising a certain play during the recent run of poor results in the league, even when others may have been poor during the game. Moyes highlighted Benrahma losing the ball on the edge of the Arsenal box before they broke away to score in a recent after game interview, which while it was true, it ignored the fact there was enough players and chances to stop the attack before it resulted in Arsenals goal.
Moyes does seem to highlight more than another player when Benrahma makes mistakes so while it is great to hear him praise our joint top scorer and player who has created the most chances for our attackers, i hope it is not faint praise and we still see benrahma sitting uout the Majority of the game only being let lose when we are desperate for a result in a game that is getting away from us.
To me, Benny is a confidence player, hopefully Moyes will now give him the confidence to start games and continue his good form when he appears from the bench.
Watch the full interview below
My feelings on the manager are reasonably well known by now, and I think his petty mismanagement of Benrahma speaks to some of what Jacob Steinberg wrote in The Guardian a few days ago. I wish it weren’t the case, but regardless of the win today and the point on Wednesday I think his time should be done.