West Ham United's Defending Against Bournemouth Was Farcical

West Ham United could be a club in crisis even before the Premier League season has started, after their terrible defending against newly relegated Bournemouth.

David Moyes kept the Hammers up for the second time in his career last season, after replacing Manuel Pellegrini in December, but the Scotsman could struggle to keep them up for a third time.

The Premier League side didn't exactly hint at having good form, ahead of the season starting next week, when they lost 5-3 at home to the Cherries in a friendly for the Betway Cup on Saturday, and some of their defending was awful.

The loss comes on the back of the club selling midfielder Grady Diangana to potential relegation rivals West Brom, with the Baggies having only just come back up to the Premier League, for £18 million.

Allowing the player, who was a youth product at the club, to leave has not gone down well at all, both with fans and players.

Captain Mark Noble was the most vocal about the 22-year-old leaving the club and took to Twitter to show his annoyance at the decision.

Speaking to the Times after the sale, Moyes gave a rallying cry to the fans, saying, "What I'd like is to build. To say to supporters, 'I'm going to give you a team to be proud of. Something that is not going to be flaky. Something with consistency.'

"The ends [seating areas] have been brought in closer to the pitch at the stadium and I want fans to come back thinking, 'We've got a team with exciting young talent that every week will give us total commitment.'

"The model has to change. I want a club that's looking longer into the future. I don't want players who turn up at West Ham thinking, 'I'm going to put some money in my pocket and have a couple of nice years in London.' I want players arriving like [Tomas] Soucek did [from Slavia Prague]: hungry to take the next step."

Moyes and the club will have to go someway in the next few weeks to make the fans believe that they can have a team they're proud of, especially after the recent outgoings at the London Stadium.

Topics: Football News, Premier League, West Ham United, West Ham, bournemouth, championship

Ryan Sidle

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