West Ham United manager David Moyes has slammed the Premier League for their dealing of rescheduling postponed fixtures.
The Hammers played Leeds United for the second time in a week on Sunday, losing this weekend’s fixture 3-2 after knocking the Whites out of the FA Cup last weekend.
Jack Harrison scored his first Premier League hat-trick in the match to hand Marcelo Bielsa a crucial win in his side’s fight against relegation.
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Moyes believes his side did not play well against Leeds on Sunday, but claims the Premier League’s rescheduling of their postponed fixture against Norwich did the Irons no favours.
He told Sky Sports: “Don’t expect me to feel good about it [the result], do you? I have to give credit to the players to play Leeds last week and then a game in midweek. An excuse? Maybe but a bit of a fair one.
“People who play against Leeds will know the intensity you need to play. We knew we had them in the league after the FA Cup but then the Premier League stuck the game in midweek.
“We found it difficult to get prepared quickly. We made mistakes, no-one else’s fault but there were other reasons for it as well.
“We have not been talking about fourth, we have been talking about chasing the teams in the top four. The players have been having a good go at it, today we were short but there were some mitigating circumstances.
“We had no games rearranged. The only game rearranged was Norwich because they had Covid. I can’t understand the Premier League squeezing a game in. Leeds had two games to fit in. Why did they squeeze ours in but not theirs?”
The West Ham boss went on to say the Premier League “aren’t getting it right” in regards to the rescheduling of postponed fixtures.
Speaking to Match of the Day, Moyes said: “Leeds have two games [extra] to play and we had one so I can’t see why Leeds didn’t play in midweek, but we were made to play ours. The players have done so well but today we didn’t perform.
“Playing Leeds twice is really difficult but also then you squeeze in a Premier League game too, which wasn’t needed. The Premier League aren’t getting it right at the moment.
“The other managers will tell you how hard it is to play against the effort and energy of Leeds. We then get a game put in and I find it hard to accept but the game has taken place and we didn’t play well enough to win the game and we have to accept that. We got caught on the ball a couple of times.
“Maybe we didn’t deserve the draw but we had opportunities ourselves. The players have put in some great work but we have had some injuries and Covid as well.”
On Jarrod Bowen’s late miss: “I have had a look at it and I can’t see why he couldn’t go with his head. This was a simple one and I don’t know many players that score with their chest but he has been playing very well and he scored another one today, so there is no criticism of him.”
On potential transfers in the January window: “The club and the board are happy for me to bring people in but it’s up to me to find the right players. You want to bring good players where your own players think you are adding to the squad. You don’t want to bring players that aren’t going to make a lot of difference. I’m trying to be a bit picky.”
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