West Ham boss David Moyes bemoans ‘huge individual errors’ in capitulation against Aston Villa… as he defends leaving £38m Mohammed Kudus on the bench

• Aston Villa cruised to a comfortable victory over West Ham at Villa Park 
• Douglas Luiz netted a double while Ollie Watkins and Leon Bailey also scored 
• Listen to the latest episode of Mail Sport’s podcast It’s All Kicking Off!

David Moyes bemoaned ‘huge individual errors’ in West Ham’s capitulation against Aston Villa on Sunday as the Hammers were hit hard in a 4-1 defeat by Unai Emery’s promising side who are now just two points off the league summit.

Man-for-man Villa were imperious for the majority of the game as they recorded their 11th consecutive Premier League victory on home turf. Two teams predicted as equals before the match were quickly shown to be anything but that.

Douglas Luiz’ driven shot deservedly put Villa ahead going into the break before Lucas Paqueta’s glaring mistake resulted in the midfielder scoring his second from the penalty spot.

Paqueta’s woeful back-pass forced Edson Alvarez into a clumsy challenge on Ezri Konsa, with the Hammers later falling foul to two more goals after Jarrod Bowen’s strike briefly inspired hope of a comeback.

David Moyes bemoaned ‘huge individual errors’ in West Ham’s capitulation against Aston Villa

Aston Villa thumped West Ham to move just two points off the top of the Premier League table

Your browser does not support iframes.

‘Huge individual errors where things didn’t go our way,’ said Moyes when analysing his first loss against Villa in 13 years.

‘I still go back to first half, very close with not a lot in it at 1-0, we missed opportunities to score, chances to make opportunities to score and that was the bit that was bugging me.

‘I think today I am not having my team losing by four goals. We might have new players making the team better, but I’m not having a team losing by four goals as soft as we did today,’ he said.

Meanwhile, Mohammed Kudus is still yet to make his first Premier League start since joining from Ajax in a £38m summer transfer, while Michail Antonio has been picked to lead the line for the Hammers in every top-flight fixture this season.

The Ghanian would have been hoping his brilliant strike that rescued a draw against Newcastle prior to the latest international break would have forced him into West Ham’s starting side at Villa Park, but Moyes again stuck to his guns by choosing 33-year-old Antonio to lead the line.

Ezri Konza was felled inside the box by Edson Alvarez, handing the hosts their spot-kick

A job he was woeful in doing as the opposition centre-back pairing of Pau Torres and Konsa comfortably marshalled the veteran attacker out the game.

Kudus didn’t help his chances with a poor touch kick-starting Villa’s attack that resulted in Ollie Watkins lashing in his fifth Premier League goal of the season late on, but there are growing calls from West Ham supporters for the 23-year-old to finally start a game. A tactical decision Moyes admitted he was constantly considering.

‘I am tempted to start Kudus in every game, but I have to be fair and say the team played quite well and in most games played well. Obviously we have a balance and are trying to get that right as well.

‘There have been times where our balance has been very good and got us some good results but now and again it can sometimes cause you problems as well.’

IT’S ALL KICKING OFF! 

It’s All Kicking Off is an exciting new podcast from Mail Sport that promises a different take on Premier League football.

It is available on MailOnline, Mail+, YouTube, Apple Music and Spotify.

Your browser does not support iframes.

Source: Read Full Article