Moyes: Our pitch is in bad shape

DAVID MOYES slammed the state of the West Ham pitch — labelling it below Premier League standard — as his side were held at home by Crystal Palace.

The Hammers are looking for two more members to add to head groundsman Dougie Robertson’s team to improve their surface.

And Moyes said: ‘I’ve not enjoyed the quality of the pitch at all. Even the first game I wasn’t happy about it. It’s not good enough and certainly below Premier League standard at the moment.’

The home side dropped points for the first time in the season and squandered the lead twice against Patrick Vieira’s men.

Pablo Fornals gave West Ham the lead before Conor Gallagher levelled. Michail Antonio restored the advantage but Gallagher struck again for Palace.

‘We didn’t pass the ball as well as we did the other night (in the

4-1 win against Leicester),’ added the Scot.

‘Our rhythm and passing was not as good as the other day... several reasons for that.

‘I’ve got to say the pitch is very poor. The pitch at the London Stadium... really, really poor. It’s not an excuse because we played very well on it on Monday night.

‘Today in the dry, a bit of heat, it is not good. That didn’t help. You could probably see the amount of times the ball bounced over people’s heads and it was very high off the ground. I think we never really got a good enough rhythm in our play.’

Meanwhile, Vieira — still waiting on his first win as Palace boss but consoled by seeing his side score their first goals of the season — said: ‘Conor was fantastic. He worked really well and gave us a lot of energy. He has got the ability to remain calm inside the box and is a really good finisher.

‘I never had any doubts about us scoring. It was just a question of time because I’m seeing the players working every day.’