David Moyes glad Jarrod Bowen has fingers and feet pointing in right direction

Posted Sunday, October 02, 2022 by PA

Jarrod Bowen suffered a dislocated finger against Wolves but West Ham manager David Moyes was just glad his feet were pointing in the right direction.

Bowen had to have his digit realigned after it was bent horribly out of place shortly after wrapping up a 2-0 victory for the Hammers with a neat turn and finish.

It was the World Cup hopeful’s first Premier League goal of the season and helped lift West Ham out of the relegation zone.

When the gruesome injury was described to Moyes, the Hammers boss quipped: “His feet have been doing that at times this season.”

Italian striker Gianluca Scamacca, the £30million summer signing from Sassuolo, also got off the mark in the Premier League with a spectacular 20-yard half-volley, and Moyes was delighted with his front two.

“I think we’ve played better this season and not picked up the points we deserved,” he added.

“But the most important thing was that our finishing was miles more clinical than we have been.

“They both did a really good job. Gianluca was very good. We really like him, he’s slightly different from what we’ve got. We are still trying to integrate him.”

Bowen was picked for England’s last Nations League squad but did not make it onto the pitch, casting doubt on his World Cup chances.

But Moyes said: “That was huge for Jarrod. I told him that if he scores five or six goals he’ll be on that aeroplane. Today was a typical Jarrod Bowen goal. That was more like Jarrod.”

Wolves boss Bruno Lage handed Diego Costa a 30-minute cameo as a substitute but the 33-year-old former Chelsea striker, signed as a free agent last month, could not prevent the division’s lowest goalscorers from slipping into the bottom three.

Costa made his first Premier League appearance since May 2017, and a first anywhere since January, but when the veteran’s only real chance came from an Adama Traore cross the rust showed as he planted a free header wide.

Nevertheless, Lage said: “He was very good, 30 minutes at a good level. Now we have this problem in our hands and its about me to find the best decisions.

“He’s been working with the team for two weeks and I’m happy with what he did.

“It was a defeat, zero points and zero goals but we are a different team when we have a striker to play between the centre-backs.”

Lage’s late substitution of Matheus Nunes was met with a chorus of, ‘you don’t know what you’re doing’ from the Wolves fans, and he was booed off at the end.

The 46-year-old added: “I think it was about the subs. There are things that happen, sometimes we need to take the decision. Let’s see if Matheus can play the next game.”