First leg is always difficult and hard to get defining results, claims David Moyes
In light of West Ham’s 1-1 draw to Olympique Lyon, David Moyes has played down the result as he admitted that the first leg is always tough to play and get a result. The Hammers battled out a 1-1 draw against Lyon despite the fact that Aaron Cresswell was sent off just before the half-time whistle.
With West Ham drawn against Olympique Lyon in the Europa league quarter-final, few gave the Hammers a chance against the French side. However, with the home crowd on their side, David Moyes’ side put up an impressive fight against the French side even despite going down to ten men after Aaron Cresswell was sent off just before half-time. So much so, that the Irons even took the lead in the second half through Jarrod Bowen.
That didn’t last long though as Tanguy Ndombele scored less than twelve minutes later to even the scores although neither side could find the breakthrough before full-time. It wasn’t for the lack of chances though as both sides had their fair share but David Moyes played down the draw and instead admitted that getting a result in the first-leg is always tough. The West Ham boss was also unhappy with a few referee decision as he believes they awarded a few soft free-kicks.
"I watch a lot of games in Europe. I think that the way the games are played here [in England], we've moved on from soft free-kicks in this country. The referees have moved on and tried to change the way it goes," Moyes said, reported Sky Sports.
"And to be fair, I think the referees we've had in the [Europa League] games this season have all been very, very good and allowed the games to flow and not accepted soft things. I just thought the game never got any chance to flow really from the early part. It was quite broken up.
"We've got a really difficult game to come, but we expected that. The first leg is always difficult and hard to get a defining result. The game is very much all to play for, at half-time I would have taken that."
The red card definitely hurt the Hammers in the second half with Cresswell sent off after he pulled down Moussa Dembele despite being the last man. However, while Moyes never commented on the card, he believes that play should have been stopped earlier as Bowen as fouled in the same play.
"The only thing I want to say about it is that I think the tackle on Jarrod Bowen leading up to it was a foul. I think it's in the same phase of play, which I would expect VAR to have intervened and done something. That's the disappointing part for me.
"If it's a foul, VAR should've intervened and gone back - that's what we do in the Premier League. It's in the same phase of play and I would have expected VAR to check that,” he added.
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