West Ham United manager David Moyes has accused his players of lacking ‘enough steel’ following their FA Cup third round stalemate against Shrewsbury Town at New Meadow.
The Hammers were captained by the returning Joe Hart and the England international appeared to be the busier of the two goalkeepers on the pitch as Shrewsbury showcased a spirited display. Paul Hurst’s side pressed well and played with energy but Hart made a number of decent saves throughout the game to keep the League One side from scoring.
The draw meant that West Ham will have to play a replay in order to progress to the next round. Considering the opponents, the Hammers should have buried the tie then and there which is why Moyes was left frustrated at the end of the game.
“I don’t think we showed any quality and the biggest disappointment is I didn’t think we showed enough steel,” he said.
“When you come to places like this you have to show yourself physically, that you can battle and compete.
“I didn’t think we did that at all and that was the worst thing about it. Sometimes it’s not easy. The conditions – the sun – didn’t make it easy for the players to see things around them but that didn’t stop the fact that we didn’t compete on a lot of occasions.
“Obviously if you compare Wembley and Thursday night, it’s a big change. But it’s a mentality thing. You’ve got to go and show that wherever you are, you’ve got to respect whatever players you’re against and recognise it’s going to be tough. For the first half especially, we didn’t compete at all.”
West Ham sit at 15th on the Premier League table and will travel to Huddersfield on Saturday for their next league outing
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