The Hammers twice came back from behind to vanquish Newcastle 4-2 at St. James’ Park. Aaron Cresswell pulled them back on level terms after a VAR review concluded no West Ham players in an offside position made contact with his accurate strike into the bottom corner.
Said Benrahma brought his superb pre-season form into the Premier League when nodding home Antonio’s cross after the break.
Tomas Soucek then handed his side the lead after tucking home the rebound from a saved Antonio penalty. The striker would not be denied for much longer, however, as Antonio made it 4-2 soon after when rifling a shot past Freddie Woodman following a Benrahma assist.
Speaking to the BBC after the match, Moyes said: “I really enjoyed it, I thought we played well in the first half and if you come here in front of 50,000 supporters and go a goal down after three minutes, we showed a lot of character.
“We gave Newcastle a bit of a leg up with the goal before half-time, we did not deserve to go 2-1 behind. We kept at it, the players who performed really well last season have started well this season.”
On the performance of Benrahma who helped to ensure Jesse Lingard’s return to Man Utd was not felt: “We want him to be really important and brought him in with that intention but it sometimes takes players time to settle.
“We are beginning to see more from him. I liked his goal but his pass for one of the goals was even better.
“We have the capability of a team that can attack and score goals. We’ve to make sure we don’t concede two every time because it makes the job more difficult.
“We play the way away like we do at home, I can see an evolution of the team and have a great trust in how they are playing. I was angry with the goals but I thought we played pretty well today.
“Our away support today was terrific and if I was a West Ham fans today seeing four goals it will make the trip down south much easier. We have to try and keep picking up points and stay about the top teams. If they play like that, I don’t need anybody else.”
Antonio jokes about tying West Ham record
Goalscorer Antonio also spoke to the press, telling Sky Sports: “I had a couple of opportunities before that I didn’t take but getting a goal on the first game starts the season off for me and hopefully I can keep going and keep scoring more.”
Antonio’s strike put him alongside Paolo Di Cano for the highest number of Premier League goals scored by a West Ham player. In typical Antonio fashion, the forward joked: “Not bad for a right-back.
“I’m going to have to say sorry to Dec (Rice) because when he missed his pen last season I said I’m on pens next so he might be back on them.
“We showed our ability last year. We showed we have the resilience and we always believe in ourselves that we can come back and score goals. We’re never beaten, we’ll always fight back and keep going.”
On the subject of having the fans back, Antonio concluded: “It’s unbelievable. Even the atmosphere when we came out and the Newcastle fans were booing us. It’s not the same without the fans so I really enjoyed it. This is what football is and that’s why i love the game.”
