IF Kalvin Phillips came to West Ham to secure his place in the England squad ahead of the summer, he may have been better off staying in Manchester.
With Gareth Southgate’s right-hand-man, Steve Holland, watching on, the Three Lions midfielder gifted Bournemouth’s Dominic Solanke a goal in shocking fashion three minutes into his West Ham debut.
Another England hopeful, James Ward-Prowse, spared his new team-mate’s blushes as he grabbed a point from the penalty spot.
But on a night after West Ham had spent the day trying to shift two forwards having brought none in this month, they had an alarming lack of cutting edge.
Not a great sign when the January window has only seen your attacking options diminish.
West Ham’s only January signing was thrown straight into the starting XI.
Moyes had challenged Phillips to make the same impact as Jesse Lingard during his six months with the club and the England midfielder had an assist after just three minutes.
It was just a shame that it was for Bournemouth. Phillips was dumped right in it by his new captain, Kurt Zouma.
The Frenchman played a terrible ball across the back line and towards his new teammate, who was instantly under pressure from Ryan Christie.
Phillips got his foot to it first but, with just his second touch in a West Ham shirt, handed the ball straight to Solanke, who fired home his 13th Premier League goal of the season.
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All the Hammers’ new No11 could do was stand with hands on hips and puff his cheeks out.
Moyes admitted this week that he had tried to sign Solanke in the summer. West Ham are already sixth without having had a proper striker for most of the season, many will wonder where they could have been had one been signed.
West Ham tried to respond quickly but could not get anything going across a first half which would have been painful to watch for anyone in the home end.
With Lucas Paqueta still injured and two wingers – Said Benrahma and Pablo Fornals – heading out of the door, Moyes opted to start four very old fashioned midfielders.
Phillips, Ward-Prowse, Edson Alvarez and Tomas Soucek, who was almost playing up front at times, are a quartet of true ‘does what it says on the tin’ players.
Running and working hard they can do all day but the stardust often sprinkled by Paqueta is above their pay-grade.
It was not working, leaving Mohammed Kudus and Jarrod Bowen largely feeding off scraps as those behind them struggled for rhythm and control.
Ben Johnson handed the ball over cheaply to the Cherries, who moved forward swiftly to the returning Antoine Semenyo, his effort stopped well by Alphonse Areola.
West Ham started to get their act together towards the end of the half, Bowen’s stooping header was saved by Neto before Soucek nodded one over the bar.
But still they could not keep it up and Semenyo was causing trouble, his late effort only just deflected over the bar.
Moyes stuck to the same plan after the break which would have baffled many in attendance, but they were soon level thanks to some individual brilliance from Kudus and a helping hand from Stockley Park.
Kudus, who returned from disappointment with Ghana at the Africa Cup of Nations earlier this week, broke past Lloyd Kelly and was dragged back by the Cherries defender.
Somehow the referee, Tim Robinson, missed the blatant penalty but was quickly sent to the monitor by VAR, Simon Hooper.
Ward-Prowse duly converted, straight down the middle, and brought some life back to the London Stadium.
Kelly almost made amends immediately at the other end but his near-post effort was parried by Areola.
Ward-Prowse does not bring the samba style of Paqueta but, having converted one set piece he was causing trouble from another as Bowen headed his free-kick narrowly wide at the back post.
West Ham were much more responsible on the ball after the restart, with Phillips improving until being replaced after 69 minutes.
Danny Ings came on in his place from a very thin West Ham bench but could not grab his first of the season.
Having been in the shop window at the start of the month, the ex-Aston Villa man will have to start showing something given Moyes’ attacking options have become more limited.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
