Beaten Moyes stands by Noble decision
DAVID MOYES claimed to have no regrets after his decision to bring on Mark Noble to take a last-minute penalty in West Ham’s defeat to Manchester United backfired.
With the Hammers trailing 2-1, club captain Noble was summoned from the bench after Luke Shaw handled in the area.
Noble had not missed a penalty since December 2016 – which was eight months after De Gea last saved one – the United keeper having conceded 40 in a row before finally keeping one out yesterday.
Hammers boss Moyes said: ‘Do I regret it? Not at all. That’s what happens in management, you have to make big decisions. I just thought, we have a really good penalty taker on the bench. I’d have been more disappointed if I hadn’t made the decision. He has an incredibly good record on penalties.’ Even rival manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer feared the worst when he saw Noble come on. ‘I’ve seen Noble score so many penalties, so you feel down and out and expect to come home with a point,’ he said.
To rub salt in West Ham’s wounds it was Jesse Lingard, who starred for the Hammers on loan last season, who scored what turned out to be the winner for United. Lingard, himself a substitute, curled home a superb shot two minutes from time. Moyes, who wanted to re-sign the England forward this summer, added: ‘It just shows you always get a second chance. Jesse made a mistake which probably cost United in midweek (in a Champions League defeat to Young Boys). He also got a second chance when he came back at West Ham and we’ll always be grateful. I wish he hadn’t scored but we still had a chance to get a draw.’