West Ham United boss David Moyes admits he was pleased by the performance of midfielder Flynn Downes on his full Premier League debut at Anfield.
Having previously only featured twice in the Premier League so far this season, in one minute cameos against Manchester City and Fulham, Downes was bought into midfield in Wednesday’s 1-0 defeat to Liverpool, playing in a midfield three alongside Declan Rice and Tomas Soucek.
Downes has made four starts for West Ham since his summer move from Swansea City, with his other three coming in the Europa Conference League, at home to FCSB and in both wins over Anderlecht.
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His performance pleased Moyes, who has previously used former Everton defender Phil Jagielka as an example of a Championship player signed and it taking up to six months to break into the first-team.
Moyes explained that he wanted to start three in midfield to try and nullify Liverpool’s attacking threats and is pleased with Downes growing contributions.
“I wanted to have another midfield player and I thought I needed it with the way Liverpool play,” said Moyes. “I thought he did really well. I've had quite a few from the Championship and some have taken six months to be first team players.
“There's a lot of things he did well so I'm pleased for him. He's starting to get noticed now.”
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