PAINFUL: David Moyes made unforgivable £21.5m mistake that made Leverkusen defeat even more painful

I don’t want to criticise David Moyes too much after West Ham United lost to Bayer Leverkusen last night, but there was one mistake he made that really hit home.

It was the same old backs to the wall job from West Ham against Leverkusen in the Europa League, but it proved to be an unsustainable game-plan from David Moyes in the end.

Leverkusen were quite simply too good for us on the night, and our key men like Lucas Paqueta just didn’t show up against Xabi Alonso’s side.

The thing is, the German side are one of the very best teams on the planet right now, and had we approached the game in a wide open, attacking manner, we would have been crucified.

However, there needs to be some balance. You cannot just sit back for 90 minutes without laying a glove on the opposition.

Something has to give in then end, and that’s exactly what happened. Michail Antonio proved inside the first 15 minutes that Jonathan Tah couldn’t live with him, so why we didn’t we try to exploit that avenue again throughout the match?

The performance was far too passive all-round, but there was one specific mistake made by Moyes that was really highlighted last night…

£21.5 million David Moyes mistake made Leverkusen defeat even more painful

Firstly, I have to say that the Scot has done a lot of great things since returning to the London Stadium for the second time in December 2019.

He has guided us to three consecutive European campaigns and helped end our 43-year wait for a major trophy last season.

However, there is definitely the odd blot on his copy book, and one of those errors really came home to roost last night…While Gianluca Scamacca was tearing it up for Atalanta against Liverpool at Anfield last night, the Hammers were toiling in Germany.

The 25-year-old, signed by Moyes for around £35 million in the summer of 2022, scored two goals for the Serie A side during a 3-0 win against Jurgen Klopp’s men.

West Ham sold Scamacca to Atalanta in the summer of 2023 for £21.5 million (talkSPORT) – more than a £10 million a loss on what we paid for him 12 months before.

And that was a huge error in my opinion. There wasn’t one single attacker Moyes trusted enough to bring on from the bench last night when we really needed a goal.

Had the Scot kept the Italian hitman and made an effort to get the best out of him, he could have ended up being a big hit at the London Stadium.

The big mistake that Moyes made by selling Scamacca eight months ago came home to roost during our defeat to Leverkusen last night. It’s just such a shame that the Hammers boss gave up on the striker so quickly.