The Hammers can feel somewhat unlucky not to have stolen a point in their clash with Liverpool last night but now its back to the drawing board for Moyes and Co.
In an intriguing tactical battle there were many talking points to consider:
1. Declan Rice IS world class and was by far the best midfielder on show last night. The experiment with a Rice-Downes-Soucek triad in midfield looked solid and significantly limited Liverpool's penetration. The big question now for Moyes is whether he should start with Soucek or Downes when he just needs two in central midfield?
2. Ben Johnson still hasn't pushed on as a right back. He continues to turn infield or backwards and really needs to try pushing up the wing a lot more. Too often Liverpool forced the Hammers to distribute out of defence through Johnson and it didn't allow us to progress up the field and when he got crossing space it lacked belief. Is he destined to play as a centre back rather than full back? Just now, Thilo Kehrer looks like our best option at RB.
3. Benrahma is our most in form winger of late and made a huge difference when he came on in terms of penetration and was behind the opportunities to snatch an equaliser that we created in the final quarter. If Pacqueta had played last then West ham would probably have gotten a point.
4. We need a top class penalty taker. In fairness, Bowen's was a good effort but a miss is a miss. Can Scamacca take penalties?
5. The combo of Antonio and Scamacca is an exciting option if we are chasing the game. Their speed and physicality is a real problem for any tiring defence and the more game time they get together the better their link up play will become.
Next up is Bournemouth at home - we really need three points!
Antonio and Scamacca should start not just when chasing a game
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