David Moyes thinks one West Ham player was ‘superb’ in Newcastle battering

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West Ham United boss David Moyes singled out Declan Rice for praise after Wednesday’s 5-1 Premier League thumping at the hands of Newcastle United. 

Even with the Hammers sitting nervously above the relegation zone, they could at least point to an impressive goal difference as giving them a slight advantage over their fellow strugglers. Well, more performances like this, and that so-called advantage will be dissipate quicker than Moyes’ hopes of lasting the summer break. 

The Scot’s side were hammered 5-1 at the London Stadium by Eddie Howe’s rampant, Champions League chasing Newcastle.  

But during West Ham’s worst performance of an already poor campaign, captain Declan Rice stood out from the rabble. A rare bright spark on a dark night. The phrase ‘best of a bad lot’ comes to mind. 

West Ham battered 5-1 by Newcastle United

“Declan is a good player,” Moyes tells Football London. “There was parts of tonight in the first half where he was superb; bursting past people and getting forward.  

“The run he made into the box and then he slipped it into Micky Antonio…”

Callum Wilson and Joelinton netted two apiece. Alexander Isak also scribed his name onto a lopsided scoresheet as Newcastle ran riot in the capital.  

And Moyes was left to rue not only what he labelled ‘incredibly poor’ defending – Nayef Aguerd and Lukasz Fabianski struggling in particular – he also felt that the scoreline could have been a lot different had the Hammers had been a little more precise at the other end of the pitch. 

“People who saw us at the weekend will know we probably made more opportunities to score tonight than we did against Southampton. We won the game 1-0 there,” Moyes adds.  

“I’m disappointed. We started the game really well, probably as well as we’ve played. We made more opportunities than we did against Southampton.

“I thought we were competitive in the first half. I thought we were certainly unlucky to be 2-0 down, but not by the standard of our defending. We got back in it and actually. We were a bit unlucky not to get a second goal just before half-time.”