Forget Fornals: £75k-p/w WHU flop who made 6 passes proved Moyes got it wrong vs NUFC - opinion

David Moyes’ West Ham United side once again failed to stake a claim on a place in the top-four on Saturday afternoon, with the Hammers fortunate to even take a point out of the lunchtime kick-off against Newcastle United.

Indeed, despite the fact that Craig Dawson’s header gave the Irons the lead after half an hour, the Magpies were well worth Joe Willock’s equaliser in first-half stoppage time, as Eddie Howe’s outfit enjoyed a greater share of possession, took more shots at goal and completed more passes than the hosts in the opening 45 minutes of the match.

And, while West Ham did grow into the game slightly after the interval, the Hammers still lacked any real cutting edge in the final third, often wasting promising counter-attacks with sloppy final passes, and generally giving away possession too cheaply in the opposition’s half.

Indeed, as is perhaps to be expected after such a result, there were once again a number of below-par performances turned in by several of Moyes’ starting XI, with Pablo Fornals, Tomas Soucek and Michail Antonio all having something of a game to forget at the London Stadium.

However, it will undoubtedly be Ryan Fredericks most disappointed with his display on Saturday afternoon, as the right-back endured a torrid 45 minutes on the pitch against the Magpies.

With Vladimir Coufal having been in disappointing form of his own in recent weeks, it was expected that Moyes would make a change on the right-hand side of his backline this afternoon, although, many would have predicted that it would have been Ben Johnson given the nod rather than Fredericks.

And, after a first half in which the £75k-per-week full-back completed just six of his 12 attempted passes, was dribbled past by an opponent once,