The Hammers were on course for an away win to start their Premier League season, thanks to Jarrod Bowen’s brilliant strike. But Cherries earned a 1-1 draw, Solanke skipping around goalkeeper Alphonse Areola to tuck home, after he collected the ball in the box following Antoine Semenyo’s wayward shot. Asked if he felt his defence switching off cost his side victory,
David Moyes said: “I don’t know if I’d agree that it was a loss of concentration. I would say it was a really unfortunate moment. The boy has struck it, it has hit Tomas Soucek’s heel and diverted into the boy’s path. To be fair, he rounds the goalkeeper really well. It was a completely lucky moment. But also a moment they’ll probably say their centre-forward anticipated it very well.”
Discussing the game as a whole,
David Moyes added: “I didn’t think we looked as if we were going to desperately concede. They had a couple of shots which had come close. Their size and stature got bigger as the game went on and it put us under pressure with corner kicks, more than when they were getting them earlier. But it was disappointing. If you look at the goal, it’s a really scruffy goal. I don’t know if the boy crosses it or shoots, but we should’ve done maybe better to stop that in the first place. It hits Tomas Soucek’s heel and bounces into the line of the centre forward. It was really bad fortune by us, but we probably brought it on. We didn’t do enough to control the game midway through the second half. I just thought we looked as if once we got the goal, we’d try and find a way of hanging on.”
Moyes was facing a Cherries side managed in a competitive fixture for the first time by Andoni Iraola, the Spaniard having arrived from Rayo Vallecano over the summer.
David Moyes said: “I was a bit unsure what to expect from Bournemouth in how they would play. We dealt with it, in the main, with a bit of a mid-block. We didn’t really go after the ball as much as we can. But for long periods it worked. I think you’ll see a lot of changes this year. I’m watching some games at the moment where there is not as much intensity, because the quality of some of the teams are so good on the ball, it means why would you expose yourself to the teams playing round you? I think you’re going to see a lot more of that this season.”
