Moyes questions FA over Lanzini ban

West Ham manager believes there is lack of consistency in federation's dealing with such situations

LONDON: West Ham boss David Moyes has questioned Football Association’s decision to hand Manuel Lanzini a two-game ban for simulation. Moyes expressed his frustration on the inconsistency regarding incidents warranting suspension who previously has seen striker Oumar Niasse banned over a similar charge.

Lanzini was banned for “successful deception of a match official” during last Saturday’s 3-0 Premier League win over Stoke City when the independent regulatory panel agreed over Argentine’s simulation to win the penalty which gave the Hammers the opening goal.



West Ham’s appeal was rejected by the FA on Tuesday. “I’m disappointed because I don’t see much consistency,” Moyes told reporters after West Ham’s 1-0 League Cup defeat by Arsenal which Lanzini missed. "There's another incident which was turned down. I wonder how they could get to that conclusion where everyone was unanimous on the decision. It sounds as if, I'm not sure even in this room that everybody would be unanimous and that was what was said it had to be.”

Lanzini who missed the defeat at Emirates is also ruled out of West Ham’s league match against Newcastle United. Moyes praised his team’s efforts against Arsenal but expressed that there is a need for experienced midfielders as 18-year-olds Domingos Quina and Declan Rice were fielded for a much-changed West Ham side on Tuesday.



"I think we have been making progress and winning games and we've been well organised and hard to play against. We showed that again tonight," Moyes added. "But what we're seeing as we go along is the next step is adding quality. Tonight we were short on midfield players and generally we're short in that area and we could do with adding a little more craft. It's an area we're short at the moment. But January is never the easiest month to deal with."

West Ham will play Newcastle on their home turf on Saturday 23 December.