David Moyes reacts to Lucas Paqueta debut; has ‘no complaints’ over West Ham draw with Tottenham

Rob McCarthy 31 Aug 2022 11:24 PM

West Ham boss David Moyes had no complaints about his side’s 1-1 draw with Tottenham on Wednesday evening as he handed a debut to record signing Lucas Paqueta at the London Stadium.

The Hammers hit back from a goal behind at London Stadium to hold their London rivals, leaving Moyes’ men sitting 14th in the table with four points from their opening five games.

The visitors thought they had a penalty in the first half when Peter Bankes pointed to the spot for an Aaron Cresswell handball. However, after a lengthy check by VAR and having watched the incident on the pitchside monitor, the referee overturned his initial call.

Spurs did break the deadlock in the first half through Thilo Kehrer’s own goal. The German diverted the ball into his own net from Harry Kane’s cross with Son Heung-min lurking.

The Hammers levelled in the second period though when a quick throw led to a lovely flicked pass from Antonio into the path of Tomas Soucek who volleyed home.

Speaking to BT Sport after the game, Moyes said: “It was a good point. Maybe a missed opportunity. In the second half we made two or three chances to win it.

“Tottenham played well tonight and made it hard for us. A decent point. I can’t complain.”

Paqueta tipped to make a big difference

On new signing Lucas Paqueta: “We monitored him all summer. For most of the summer it didn’t look likely. It was great for us. We needed someone in the number 10 role who can create opportunities. He didn’t disappoint today in his short cameo. I’m looking forward to getting him trained and used to us and hopefully he can make a big difference.

“We didn’t start the game well tonight. They caused us a problem.

“I thought tonight [overall] we created good chances. We scored a goal good.

“The players are working really hard. We are a little bit behind where we were last season.

Classy assist from Antonio,
Elegant finish from Soucek!

West Ham United are back in the game… 👀 pic.twitter.com/zAIg8qiwba

— Football on BT Sport (@btsportfootball) August 31, 2022

“It’s been a really long window. The board have been really good and helped me get a lot of talented players. We are still integrating players. Hopefully now with Lucas coming in we can start to build and get some positive results.”

On how long it will take his new signings to gel, Moyes added: “I’d love to say only a couple of weeks but it’ll probably take longer for players to get used to each other and start to develop.”

West Ham United Lucas Paqueta