West Ham manager David Moyes has revealed his side had only one training session to prepare for their match against Leeds United on Sunday.
Moyes was speaking in his post-match press conference where he detailed the intense nature of the Hammers’ schedule after their exploits in Europe on Thursday.
Leeds had considerably more preparation time for the game at the London Stadium but were well beaten after squandering yet another lead.
The Whites started well as they caught Moyes’ side napping early on through Rodrigo Moreno’s goal but offered very little from Declan Rice’s equaliser just after the half-hour mark.
Leeds barely laid a glove on the home side after the interval as Jarrod Bowen and Manuel Lanzini both got on the score sheet to earn a 3-1 win.
Moyes on limited West Ham prep for Leeds
West Ham progressed to the final of the Europa Conference League on Thursday with a 1-0 away win at AZ Alkmaar.
The Hammers squad were seen on social media celebrating long into the night but in truth, it was Leeds who looked like the leggy ones.
In the second half, they just couldn’t get close to their opponents and for a team who prided themselves for so long on their fitness, it was an embarrassing showing.
Moyes said: “That would’ve been my biggest worry today, naming the team. I was trying to look at how they were going to be and what we were thinking. We wanted to try and put out as strong as we could, but I knew I had a chance to change a couple of the players was probably in my mindset anyway.
“I think for the players’ mentality, such a big win, great euphoria. We travelled back, got back at three in the morning, we only train on Saturday morning before we come and play this game today. I think that was the bit where I’m saying ‘could the players get back on it quick enough? Could we get them ready?’
“Apart from the opening 15 or 20 minutes, we did a brilliant job. The mentality to keep going and look, Leeds, for 15 or 20 minutes, had a couple of chances and maybe we could have been punished more, but we did just enough to give ourselves a chance.”
With the situation Leeds are in, there is no excuse for how far off the pace they were after the break but it is indicative of just how far they have fallen off since Marcelo Bielsa’s exit.