"We were punished" - West Ham's David Moyes on midfield failings in 2-0 defeat to Fulham

The sun may have been shining but it was an exceptionally gloomy atmosphere at the London Stadium with David Moyes’s side suffering a 2-0 defeat to Fulham with Andreas Pereira scoring both the Cottagers’ goals.

The Irons were not without their chances but could not put the ball in the back of the net with silly defensive errors costing them dearly. 

With the second leg against Bayer Leverkusen just around the corner, this is hardly the time for the Irons to struggle at any end of the pitch and head coach Moyes is realistic about his side’s necessity to find their ‘shooting boots’ ahead of Thursday. 

Aside from any Europa League hopes, following Manchester United’s draw with Bournemouth yesterday, the Irons could have jumped into sixth place in the Premier League with a win today but the absence of Jarrod Bowen was felt immensely with the Irons unable to score without him. 

Speaking to the press after the defeat, Moyes said: “I’m gutted, today was a great chance to go sixth with five games to go, great position to be in. We gave the ball away in the midfield and it opened us up and we were punished.

 “I thought we started well. For the first 20 minutes I thought we played well. We should have been one or two goals up before they scored. I didn’t think they got forward that often in the opening period. 

We got caught out with a long ball, we didn’t deal with it in the first bit, second bit we certainly didn't deal with it. We had a couple of big opportunities to score ourselves which would have changed the dynamic of the game a bit.”

The Irons number ten Lucas Paqueta has been a key element in the Stratford side’s success since his arrival in 2022 but his theatrics today proved ineffective. 

When asked about his recent performances - including his display against Bayer Leverkusen which saw him receive a booking, thus suspending him in next week’s home clash - Moyes said of the Brazilian: “Now and again you get players like this, not had them too often.

“Sometimes you have to give them a bit of licence but today, the licence he gets didn’t give us anything. it probably punished us in some ways. He’s someone who we really like, he’s done a great job for us but today it didn’t work for us. 

Moyes was then questioned on whether he will accept Paqueta’s recent drop in form to which he admitted: “It shouldn’t but there is a little bit of acceptance. But it shouldn’t because I wouldn’t accept it from all the players.”

Five minutes after making his Premier League debut, the 19-year-old George Earthy suffered a heavy head collision with teammate Edson Alvarez which saw him knocked straight to the ground. It was a deeply unpleasant moment for both team’s with Fulham boss Marco Silva immediately rushing over to check on the youngster. 

Moyes can confirm, however, that the young midfielder is awake and talking. “I’m really disappointed for George,” Moyes added. “He’s been doing really well in training and he actually started well with the ball, had some really nice touches. He’s fine, we believe it's a head knock. He’s awake, he’s talking.  He’s gone to hospital so they will get the checks done.”

The Scotsman also noted that there was as yet no update on whether his star striker Bowen will be able to return for Thursday’s clash. “I have no idea,” Moyes said. “He’s improving, but I have no idea.”