West Ham manager David Moyes has praised his team for their “great” 2-0 win over Manchester United in their final home game of 2023.
Goals from Jarrod Bowen and Mohammd Kudus in the space of six second half minutes saw West Ham leapfrog Manchester United into sixth position with their ninth league win of the campaign, which was confirmed when Newcastle lost at Luton in the mid-afternoon kick-offs.
Much of the contest however was scrappy in what was West Ham’s 58th game of the calendar year, which Moyes explained as the reason behind a lack of entertainment.
“There will be games, when you ask the players to play so many, that you won’t get full excitement and great entertainment.
“We didn’t mean to come and sit off them. They passed the ball out from the back quite well and sent us back.
“We didn’t quite work it out [before half-time], but we got much better in the second half. The players are also still trying to think how they’re going to get through 90 minutes of the game right at the start, so there is a little bit of that after playing just two days ago.”
Moyes though felt that the win was a “great result” against top out-of-form opposition
Moyes’ Hammers now sit on 30 points after 18 matches with the ex Everton boss happy with how his players responded to their Carabao Cup exit at Liverpool in midweek, as he applauded players like Kurt Zouma and Emerson for their freshness after they were rested at Anfield.
Looking ahead to the remainder of their league campaign, Moyes admitted that the task now is try and fight for European qualification – despite having the option of qualifying for the Champions League by winning the Europa League this season.
“Any win in the Premier League is really hard. We’ve got nine wins now and that’s a great total for us. We’ll try to kick on and hang in with the boys at the top, but it’s really difficult with what a lot of these clubs have got.”
Kudus’ goal came from Lucas Paqueta’s pass in an one-two move started by the summer signing but Moyes had particular praise for Paqueta’s ability on the ball to create chances for Kudus and Bowen.
“The way he kept the ball, linked us up and then he does what he does. He plays people in. His assist totals at the moment must be through the roof, certainly for us in the last few games.
“The front three are all chipping in with what we want them to do. We’re a little bit short of scoring from set-pieces at the moment, but hopefully that’s to come later on and when those boys dry up we can get those goals from set-pieces.”
West Ham have also lost just one of their last 11 home games in all competitions and lost just four home games at home in total throughout 2023, which Moyes believes is “a brilliant year” despite feeling that there are other clubs with better home records.
2023 saw the Hammers win the Europa Conference League and experience the departure of Declan Rice, whilst welcoming Kudus amongst new signings.
Reflecting on the year as a whole as he praised the playing squad, Moyes said: “The players we’ve had, whether they’ve gone or whether it’s new ones we’ve brought in, we’ve had a fantastic year, with a trophy in the middle of it.”