West Ham United captain Kurt Zouma addressed the media after Newcastle United beat us 4-3 at St James’ Park.
Kurt Zouma has received plenty of criticism in his role as West Ham club captain this season, and I think David Moyes made a huge error by giving him the armband in the first place.
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The 29-year-old has been really poor for the Hammers this season, and not just from a leadership perspective.
If I had to guess, I would say that he’ll leave the London Stadium on a free transfer in the summer of 2025 when his contract expires. Let’s face it, nobody is going to pay a fee for the Frenchman with his injury record are they!
He tore his cruciate ligament whilst at Chelsea back in the 2015/16 season, and since then he has missed 459 games through a succession of different injuries (Transfermarkt).
Zouma needs to focus on remaining fit and being a better leader for West Ham United. He was pretty average yesterday, but his display wasn’t the reason why we lost the game…
Captain Kurt Zouma admits substitutes were the reason Newcastle won
Moyes decided to bring Michail Antonio off and replaced him with Kalvin Phillips after 68 minutes, when we were leading 3-1.
The switch gave Newcastle all the momentum in the game, and it was no surprise at all when they went on to beat us 4-3 in the end.
When Moyes made defensive changes, Eddie Howe made attacking ones, and those decisions completely changed the game.
Zouma spoke to reporters after the match and admitted that the Newcastle subs proved to be decisive in the end, as quoted by WHUFC.com:
“We were playing really well, but then we stopped. They put us under a lot of pressure and we couldn’t cope with it, and in the end they managed to get the goals that got them the win. Credit to them. They had nothing to lose and went for it when they were 3-1 down, and I think their substitutes made a difference. When they made it 3-2 we knew it was going to be hard with their fans, but we just didn’t do enough and it’s incredibly frustrating.”
Zouma is right – Newcastle’s subs did help change the game, but so did Moyes’s – only it was in an adverse way for us.
If Moyes could turn back the clock, I’m sure he’d have left Antonio on, or brought Danny Ings on to replace him and put him in the number 10 position just behind Jarrod Bowen.
The changes gave the impetus to the Magpies and allowed them to dominate us in our third. I would say that hopefully Moyes will learn from his mistakes, but we all know he never will.
Captain Kurt Zouma made it very clear just how much of an impact the Newcastle subs made on the game yesterday. It’s a shame Moyes’s was so passive with his own changes.
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