West Ham boss David Moyes laments ‘terrible’ defending as Palace gifted leveller

By Andy Sims, PA

David Moyes hit out at the “terrible” defending which cost West Ham in the 1-1 draw with Crystal Palace

The Hammers were leading through a fine goal from Ghana winger Mohammed Kudus and heading for a fifth straight win in all competitions.

But West Ham’s Greek defender Konstantinos Mavropanos came bearing a gift early in the second half when his crazy, no-look, back-pass let Odsonne Edouard in to equalise.

Once again the Hammers’ inability to keep a clean sheet cost them – they have managed just one in the Premier League this season.

It was also the 16th time they have conceded a goal in the 15 minutes after half-time this calendar year.

Hammers boss Moyes said: “I’m aware of that. But it’s not as if we are having a pie at half-time and coming out feeling rubbish.

“It was a tough game for us, we scored a good goal early on but we didn’t perform well in the first half. It was a tight Premier League game.

“When the games are tight, you are hoping you can hang in, but to give away a goal the way we did, from our point of view, it was terrible.

“Probably the biggest thing was we couldn’t play with enough personality, we couldn’t get the atmosphere going, we needed to play better.

“I thought we were playing safe, wanted to take more risks and get the ball into the forward players. But Mo was fantastic, probably the best player on the pitch. His attacking was excellent today.”

Palace boss Roy Hodgson was relieved to see out a nervy finish as West Ham went in search of a late winner.

“For large periods I was really quite pleased with way we were defending and attacking. It was an even game,” he said.

“You have to go through the anxious last moments but that’s understandable, we’ve just lost two games to late goals.

“I could have done without that 10 minutes, but the team showed a lot of resilience and I could understand the anxiety. Had we lost another game to a late goal, it would have had massive consequences on the team’s confidence.”

Palace were without Eberechi Eze, who suffered an ankle injury last week, and Hodgson is unsure when his star forward will be back.

“The update is a bit up in the air,” he added. “Eze is seemingly of the opinion he is going to be over the injury quicker than you can say ‘Jack Robinson’, but the medical people think it could be longer.”