West Ham United manager David Moyes says his side’s performance in Sunday’s 5-2 defeat to Crystal Palace was “so bad, I can hardly put it into words” and gave a short response when asked about his future.
West Ham were 4-0 down inside 31 minutes at Selhurst Park and Moyes said he had “not had many teams play who’ve played like that in my career”.
The 60-year-old’s contract expires at the end of the season and his position was the subject of fan protests at the beginning of the year.
“The first half was as bad as I’ve seen us play,” Moyes said. “Lots of things were not correct with the way we played. We didn’t compete and it’s hard to explain why. The players got praised for their performance on Thursday (against Bayer Leverkusen) but today was so bad, I can hardly put it into words.
“I’m not giving the performance on Thursday as an excuse for today. We’re not accepting that. We could’ve changed the team today but we didn’t. What we need now is a response from the players.”
West Ham were 3-0 down inside 20 minutes following goals from Michael Olise, Eberechi Eze and a Emerson Palmieri own goal, before Jean-Philippe Mateta added a fourth shortly after the half hour mark.
Michail Antonio pulled one back before half time before Mateta added his second after the break. Dean Henderson scuffed a clearance into his own net with one minute of normal time remaining as the game finished 5-2.
“We’ve lost some games, some heavy defeats, but it’s never felt like the two or three we’ve had this year,” Moyes continued. “I spoke to the players, they’ll have a couple days to recover and hopefully when they come back they’ll be ready to perform in the remaining games.
“I’m so disappointed for the supporters who came today and I’m embarrassed to sit here and be speaking on behalf of the team based on how they performed. I’m the manager and I’ve not had many teams play who’ve played like that in my career.”
Moyes said in February he had been offered a new contract but would wait until the end of the season to make a decision on his future.
His position has come under pressure at the beginning of the year after overseeing eight games in all competitions without a win, with “Moyes out” banners and placards visible at fixtures.
Moyes, who led West Ham to the Europa Conference League title last season, dismissed a question over his future after Thursday’s Europa League quarter-final exit to Bundesliga champions Bayer Leverkusen and was similarly frosty on the subject on Sunday.
Asked if his future would be taken out of his hands, Moyes replied: “If it is, then it is, fine – no problem.”
West Ham sit eighth in the Premier League and return to action on Saturday against Liverpool.
GO DEEPER
What’s next for West Ham and Moyes?
(Henry Browne/Getty Images)
