David Moyes has come under fire from Sky Sports presenter Joe Thomlinson for his inability to maximize the potential of West Ham striker Gianluca Scamacca, reports the TBR. The Hammers have struggled this season after two successive European finishes and are currently involved in a battle to avoid relegation.
With just 12 games remaining and fixtures against five of the top six sides, West Ham’s supporters are understandably concerned. Moyes’ decision not to bring on Scamacca, a £35.5m signing, during Sunday’s match when the team were in need of a goal has left the fans frustrated.
Moyes appears to have struggled to extract the best from high-profile strikers, with Scamacca being the latest after the disappointing spell of Sebastien Haller – though Haller was signed by Pellegrini. Thomlinson referred to this on the Football Daily YouTube channel, stating that the situation becomes more challenging considering the significant £180m spent in the summer, the arrival of big names such as Scamacca and Paqueta, and the fact that Scamacca was left unused on the bench in the game against Villa, where the team needed points to avoid being relegated, with Maxwel Cornet being brought on instead.
Thomlinson also said: “I know Cornet was also a summer arrival, but I just think his usage of Scamacca is becoming extremely troublesome, and his quotes after the game here, saying ‘his physical data has got to be much better than it is’.
“That’s fine, but I remember a similar narrative developing with Seb Haller when he was there – that he didn’t do the runs into the channels that he wanted and we’ve seen what Seb Haller has been able to achieve subsequently to leaving West Ham and what he managed to at Ajax and [his] goalscoring rate.
“Just 11 starts in the Premier League for the Italian. That’s pretty underwhelming given that he was £35m, the big name coming in.
“Three goals. It’s just very, very underwhelming.”