West Ham continue to back David Moyes despite Declan Rice's "demoralising" claim
A West Ham defeat by bogey team Brighton is nothing new, but the manner of Saturday's wretched loss has brought a fresh wave of doubt around David Moyes' future as manager.
Albion are yet to lose to the East London club in 12 games since reaching the Premier League in 2017. This, however, was their most comfortable win in all that time – against any top-flight opponent.
The brutal reality is Brighton were not even required to be near their best because this was all about a West Ham performance that lacked grit, determination and quality from start to finish.
“We were played off the pitch,” captain Declan Rice said. “I’m hurting, the boys are hurting. It was demoralising at times.”
It was a day where standards dropped to such an extent that a majority of West Ham’s hardcore support turned on the manager for the first time.
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After leading the club to Europe in consecutive seasons, Moyes still has credit in the bank with a board that does not currently plan to sack him. But for the third time in six weeks he finds himself in a position where a home defeat in their next league game could see that stance altered.
The Scot may remain trusted to turn it around for now but even he admitted this was the worst result and performance of his three years in charge. “We let ourselves down,” Moyes said before asking the fans “to have hope.”
That seems a tall order. By the end of this remarkable thrashing the mood among the visiting support was rancorous.
Having sung the manager’s name in praise during the opening ten minutes, there were boos at the interval and chants of “you don’t know what you’re doing” during an appalling second half. “I totally understand,” Moyes said of the reaction.
Declan Rice said West Ham were played off the park at Brighton, describing the defeat as "demoralising"All four goals were courtesy of clueless defensive play, with Ben Johnson culpable for the first three.
“It was a tough day for Ben but he’s a young boy, that’s the way it is,” Moyes said. “You have to learn on the job sometimes and hopefully he learns a lot from today.”
First the right back allowed Kaoru Mitoma to ghost into the box before Jarrod Bowen arrived to send the Japan winger to the floor to concede a penalty converted by Alexis Mac Allister.
Then Johnson was fast asleep at the back post as he allowed Joel Veltmann to tap home a corner for the second before a similar dawdling error allowed Mitoma to make it 3-0. Danny Welbeck added the fourth, by which point many of the West Ham fans were on the train home.
Those who remained had plenty of fury left to vent – most of it reserved for a manager who has seen it all before and therefore will be more than aware of the precarious situation he finds himself in.
Given the opportunity to speak more generally about “individual mistakes” Moyes did not pull his punches.
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“You can ask the manager why people are upset and why people are questioning things,” he said. “But when it comes down to it at this level, it’s a lot to do with individual performances as well. One or two at the minute have not quite been good enough.”
This, ultimately, felt like another turning point – a week on from scoring four of their own without reply against Nottingham Forest.
If that win looked like a signpost towards a march up the table, Moyes is back to square one with the added challenge of a European tie away to Larnaca to consider before another potentially do or die meeting versus Aston Villa on Sunday.
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