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David Moyes confessed he has something of a selection conundrum to deal with in the wake of Flynn Downes' performance against Anderlecht.

The former Swansea midfielder was in exceptional form as he featured for the full 90 minutes in his first Conference League start against the Jupiler League side.

Having been told previously by Moyes that he had a long way to go before being considered for selection in the first team, the 23-year-old Brentwood-born midfielder may just have done enough to change the manager's mind.




Downes was West Ham's star performer as the Irons ran out 1-0 winners in Brussels thanks to second half substitute Gianluca Scammaca's 79th minute winning goal.

And other players were praised for their efforts by Moyes during his post-match press conference, as he reflected one a win that leaves West Ham five points clear of their closest rivals in the Conference League's Group B at the halfway stage.

"Flynn played really well tonight," he said when asked to comment on the youngster's performance. "I thought him and Jarrod (Bowen) were really good.

"The goalkeeper made a couple of great saves, but Flynn has given us something to think about. He’s only just starting to get the feel of it in training but he’s beginning to get used to what we want. He did a really good job tonight, Flynn."

And as for match-winner Scamacca, he added: "When he came on he helped us; actually all three players who came on [in the second half] gave us a different feel.

"The players who started did a good job apart from in the final third. Gianluca got that opportunity, hit the target with his shot and put it in the corner. It was really important.

"I want strikers who are competitive against each other and who score goals. At the moment Gianluca is the one who is getting the moments and getting the goals - he is getting one or two opportunities every game and taking them.

"We really need it as our goal numbers are not as good as they should be. We have scored three in the other {UCL] games and tonight we should have scored three as well, but we didn’t. Gianluca came on and got that important goal."

Despite bemoaning those missed opportunities, the boss was happy with the team's overall performance - one which secured back-to-back wins and clean sheets following last weekend's defeat of Wolves.

"I thought we did really well," he mused. "I thought there were signs of our football improving, especially as the game went on. You could see the strength in the squad starting to come.




"You could see what we had on the bench, who we could bring on and what was required. We needed some saves from our 'keeper, but you are in Europe away from home and it was always going to be the case that we would have some moments where we might be under pressure.

"Still, we missed some really big opportunities to be out of sight and probably should have scored more goals."

One of the players guilty of perhaps squandering one or two chances - especially before the half time interval - was Said Benrahma. Yet Moyes refused to be critical of the Algerian winger, who was unable to find his shooting boots on the night.

"We like him a lot, we think a lot of him," insisted the boss. "We’re pushing him and we’re working him to continue hitting the target. We see some things which we think he should be doing more, like hitting the target more often. He’s missing too often.

"Tonight was a typical example, but if he wants to really be competitive he can be. Can he play at this level? 100 per cent he can and he can be an impact player, he can influence games. But when you get those opportunities, you need to take them."

That the likes of Benrahma and Downes were able to flourish was testament to the general improvement in squad depth during the summer transfer window, when West Ham surprised everyone by committing to spending upwards of £150million on new players.

And Moyes feels the introduction of so many new faces will prove vital as the season wears on, even if they have failed to bear much fruit just yet. "I believe it will make a huge difference," he said when asked to comment on the transformation of his first team squad.

"I wouldn’t say we’ve taken any risks, but we knew we had a big summer. The players who had left, the numbers, we had to do what we did - buy players who can keep us competitive.

"We’ve still got to improve that. But I think in time all the players we’ve signed will prove to be good ones. We’ve signed good international players, and I’m hoping they can show what they’ve got."

And even though he confessed to being unhappy at missing any games, that enhanced squad afforded Moyes the opportunity to bench the likes of Declan Rice, who revealed earlier in the week how he had played more than 65 matches for West Ham and England last season.




"He was always not playing [tonight]," confirmed Moyes. "I’d made a decision after the game at the weekend that he wasn’t going to start.

"He played two full games for England, he played for us and we won so to turn him back out again is really too difficult even for someone like him.

"I’m not saying if we had needed to win I wouldn’t have done it, but the Thursday/Sunday football is something we are really having to think about if we’re going to have a go at doing as well as we can in the Premier League.

"This is what I’ve really wanted. In the opening [Conference League] games we may have made more changes but because we’ve been short of central defenders - we’re still trying to bring Angelo [Ogbonna] back to a level we think he should be at - we were introducing one or two players.

"The idea was that we were going to be strong so that we could give people more time to prepare for the Premier League games. The games are hard and have been tough. I’m not going to give the games up in midweek and I’m not going to give up the games in Europe, as I want to win and I want to qualify."

The win effectively leaves West Ham just one more win against Anderlecht in Stratford next week away from securing qualification for the next phase of the competition. However he has already warned his players to take nothing for granted.

"We’ve had no celebrations," he said. "We’ve won a difficult game tonight away in Europe which is really good. We still have to play them again next week so we aren’t in the dressing room shouting and waving flags because we respect we have to play them again.

"Tonight was pretty tight as well. We had such strength on our bench we were able to change it when we thought we needed to. The players coming on made a big difference.

"I expected Anderlecht to be tough games. We found Silkeborg a tough opponent. We want to do a job and be in Europe after Christmas time, that is the first thing.

"We’ve put ourselves in a pretty good position at the moment but we’ve still got three games to go - and we have to try and get another win, at least, to have a chance of qualifying."

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