All the talk coming out of West Ham over the last fortnight since David Moyes took charge as manager was largely positive.
Training became more intense, players bought into his approach and Moyes’ pragmatic stance on the situation at the club sat well with the fans, but you feel any honeymoon period is over before it really began.
It was another disappointing away performance from the Hammers who lacked guile, craft and any sort of invention in the final third.
Watford took an early lead when Will Hughes reacted quickest to a scuffed Andre Gray shot to fire beyond Joe Hart but West ham had their opportunities to get back to level terms before the break.
First, a lovely team move culminated in Cheikhou Kouyate finding himself one-on-one with Heurelho Gomes who pulled off a remarkable save to deny the midfielder, before Marko Arnautovic saw his headed effort beaten back into his path by Gomes but the Austrian couldn’t net the rebound.
The Hornets made it two in the second half after a prolonged period of pressure saw Richarlison break through down the left and Hart was unable to keep out his low driven effort.
Moyes has a real job on his hands to get West Ham out of trouble as they displayed the same tired, uninspired performance that they were showing under Slaven Bilic in the final weeks of his reign.
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