David Moyes unhappy with London Stadium pitch after West Ham vs Crystal Palace draw

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David Moyes has criticised the quality of the London Stadium pitch after West Ham's winning start to the season was brought to an end by Crystal Palace.

The Hammers manager says the playing surface, which was relaid over the summer, is "well below" Premier League standard and that he has been frustrated with it since the start of pre-season.

Moyes said he was not using the turf as an excuse given that his side beat Leicester City emphatically here on Monday night, but felt it hindered their attempts to settle into a rhythm here.

The hosts, who remain unbeaten and have scored 10 goals in three games this season, struggled to settle into the game and were disjointed going forwards at times.

"We didn't pass the ball as well as we did the other night," said Moyes.

"Our rhythm and passing was not as good the other day. Several reasons for that. It was made a bit difficult.

"I've got to say the pitch is very poor, the pitch at the London Stadium is really, really poor. It's not an excuse because we played very well on it on Monday night. Today in the dry, a bit of heat it is not good. That didn't help.

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“You could probably see the amount of times the ball bounced over people's heads and it was very high off the ground. I think we never really got a good enough rhythm in our play.

"I've not enjoyed the quality of the pitch at all, and I've known about it. Even the first game I wasn't happy about it. It's just not good enough, it is certainly below Premier League standards at the moment."

West Ham now have until September 19 before their next home game, against Manchester United, though it is unclear whether any drastic effort will be made to improve the pitch.

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