David Moyes has defended his handling of West Ham’s goalkeeping dilemma after Lukasz Fabianski criticised being dropped for last week’s season opener against Bournemouth.
The Pole was left out of that fixture after Moyes opted to give Alphonse Areola a rare Premier League start, the suggestion being that Fabianski’s involvement will be reduced to the cup competitions this term.
That is the role Areola has played across the course of his two seasons in east London so far, including in the Hammers’ run to Europa Conference League glory last term.
However, Moyes’s long-term plan has always been for the 30-year-old to inherit the No1 shirt, the former Real Madrid keeper having initially joined on a season-long loan from PSG that was made permanent last summer.
Fabianski’s form last season forced his rival to bide his time, but even with the veteran, now 38, having signed a one-year contract extension ahead of the new season, Moyes has decided now is the time for change.
In an interview in the Polish press, Fabianski said the news that he was not starting at Bournemouth came as a “massive shock”.
“The information made me angry,” he added. “I wasn’t mentally ready for something like this. The way the situation was handled feels weird.
“You can probably feel my pain. All I will say is through my work with the club, coaching staff and manager, I deserved the situation to unfold in a much different way.”
Asked about those comments ahead of Sunday’s meeting with Chelsea, Moyes said: “I am not going to reply to it too much, but what I will say is that it was handled as well as we could do.
“We spoke with him, both me and the goalkeeping coach, and we explained ourselves. Lukasz Fabianski has been so, so good, incredibly good over the years and has earned his new contract from the games he has played.
“I think Lukasz played about 36 games last year and Alphonse played about 23 or 24 this year. We have got two No1 goalkeepers and at the moment I chose Alphonse because I see it is the way forward and the future, so that was my decision.”
