On the latest instalment of the U Irons podcast, Roshane Thomas has revealed how he believes David Moyes has treated Said Benrahma unfairly this season.
The former Brentford forward joined West Ham initially on loan last summer before making the move permanent for a £30m fee in January.
Since arriving at the London Stadium, the 25-year-old has started just 10 Premier League games for the Hammers, failing to find the back of the net on each occasion.
The Algeria international saw the ageing Mark Noble start ahead of him last time out against Manchester United, despite Pablo Fornals being injured and loanee Jesse Lingard being ineligible against his parent club.
Thomas stated how he believes David Moyes should give the winger more opportunities for the remainder of the season as the capital club continue their push for Champions League football.
He said: “If I was [Moyes], I’d have been like, ‘Alright Benrahma, show me why you deserve to be this team. Give me a selection headache. Give me a difficult conundrum. Show me why you should be in his team ahead of the likes of Fornals, or Lingard and what have you. Go out there and show me what you can do.’
“And I felt like he wasn’t a given opportunity. When he came on, we looked so much better going forward. I can’t think of anyone else like him in his squad. Like, he’s just so different, it makes him so special – doing the odd stepovers, making that odd pass. And it’s like, just give the guy a chance.
“I feel like the whole thing’s been handled bad in my opinion because he hasn’t been given the opportunity to have an extended run of games to show what he can do.”
TIF Thoughts on Benrahma…
It’s hard to criticise Moyes given how well the Hammers have been performing this season, but Benrahma bagged an incredible 17 goals in the Championship last season, and he may have therefore been expecting to feature more prominently during the current campaign.
West Ham are sitting in fifth position in the top-flight standings, just three points behind fourth-placed Chelsea with a game in hand over Thomas Tuchel’s men.
Moyes may be reluctant to change things for the final 10 games of the season, but Benrahma has performed well when given a chance, as his respectable 6.55 WhoScored rating shows, so the Scotsman may be better off taking a risk this time around.