West Ham’s bright start to the season has officially been downgraded to mediocre after the Hammers began their demanding schedule of seven games in 21 days with two well-deserved defeats. Disappointingly poor performances in Birmingham and Athens putting prior victories against Brighton and Chelsea in the category of freak early season anomalies.
The two lame losses have switched the focus back to future of David Moyes, whose contract expires at the end of this season. Humiliation at Villa Park was especially exasperating and made worse by the manager’s post-match comments which suggested the hosts were well-ahead of his own side in their development. An analysis that conveniently overlooks the respectively tenures of the two managers. Moyes is no new boss on the block having been in charge at the London Stadium for almost four years now while Unai Emery is only just celebrating his first anniversary at Villa Park.
For a veteran of over 1100 games as manager, Moyes is remarkably thin-skinned and tetchy at press conferences on the rare occasions questions stray from the banal. He reverts to a dour and uninspiring demeanour that would make Dad’s Army’s Private Frazer look like an optimist. The worry is that this is how he comes across in the dressing room pre-match and at half-time – talking up the opposition and fixating on how to stop them rather than on how to beat them.
The current West Ham side are with no shadow of doubt a team that Moyes built. Its shortcomings – whether in personnel or tactics – fall squarely on his slippery shoulders. It can surely no surprise to even the most casual observer that failure to bring in additional striker resources in the summer would prove to be a disastrous decision. Michail Antonio has form for fading away after a bright start and who could have imagined Danny Ings playing as an isolated lone striker when he was scouted. Unai Emery must be having a good chuckle about that one!
Perversely, the Hammers goalscoring form this season has been surprisingly decent, despite it needing a huge slice of luck to to keep the run of scoring in every game going last weekend. Rather it is in defence where the team have been exposed, conceding 16 goals in the first nine games. This is by far the worst defensive start to a season under Moyes. The compact and narrow defensive ploy of inviting long shots and crosses has come unstuck as players endeavour to push forward more quickly. A central defence recruited to head away crosses all afternoon are dangerously vulnerable to opponents attacking them with pace. The historic solution for a leaky defence will be to pack it even tighter.
Not much can be read into the result at Olympiacos. Moyes gambled with a clutch of second-string players who quite frankly are either past it or not very good. Was that because he underestimated the Greek league leaders or was willing to write-off the game with more important fixtures coming up? It must have occurred to others that the Hammers best chance of more silverware (and a fourth consecutive Europe campaign) would be to drop down into the Conference. A Europa League knock-out stage that could potentially include Manchester United and Newcastle as well as Liverpool and Brighton would be formidable – can anyone see West Ham beating any of these over two legs?
Tomorrow, the London Stadium visitors are founding members of the Premier League Calamity Club, Everton. Already embroiled in what has become an annual relegation battle, the Toffees are also facing sanctions as a result an FA investigation into their finances. It was reported this week that the penalty could be as harsh as a deduction of 12 Premier League points. If that happened it would be a massive blow to survival hopes even allowing for the other hopeless cases likely to be fighting the drop.
Everton now have the look of a typical Sean Dyche team. They work hard, are difficult to break down, and share Moyes infatuation with resilience. The two managers are cut from the same old piece of cloth that should have been thrown out years ago. Unfortunately for them, the Toffees score very few goals. Leave aside the graft and there is little to get the fans off their seats in what will be a desperate campaign for them. The biggest threat tomorrow will come from Doucoure who managed to pop up to score important goals at just the right moment last season. Or perhaps Calvert-Lewin will finally recover the goalscoring form that made him such a hot property three or four years ago.
The challenge for Moyes will be to put out a team capable of breaking through a rugged Everton rear-guard. Faced with an organised defence the Hammers attacking efforts can lack creativity and urgency and another insipid display is not going to go down well with supporters. Everton will be well aware that frustrating the home side will get the fans on their backs.
After the Villa game it was expected changes would be necessary but having seen the potential replacements struggle to make an impact in Athens nothing is now certain. There will be at least one enforced change, however, due to the suspension of Emerson, plus there are also concerns over Vladimir Coufal’s fitness.
It is difficult to imagine Moyes making radical selection changes, just as it is unlikely that he will make early switches if it looks like things are not working out. We can expect the standard pre-planned substitutions around the 75 minute mark – Ings on for Antonio, Said Benrahma replacing Lucas Paqueta or Thomas Soucek. It begs the question as to why Divin Mubama is left on the bench as an unused substitute each week – or getting a 2 minute cameo deep into injury time if he is lucky? Young players need a 20 – 25 minute run-out to make it a worthwhile experience. But with Moyes approach to game management not allowing matches to be killed off when on top, that luxury is never available.
Having seen what a breath of fresh air can do at clubs like Tottenham, Brighton and Villa it is dispiriting to have to plod along under the dark cloud of a cautious and unadventurous manager. The mood isn’t helped by talk of Mourinho as a replacement next summer. Surely that is just media tittle-tattle and aspirations at the club go beyond another tactical has-been. COYI!
Under The Hammers 
Hi Geoff – another great article.
Firstly, we have a lot to thank Moyes for, namely saving us twice from relegation and winning us our first trophy since Electricity was invented. To start, I was a Moyes fan.
I remember his Everton days when they played at pace, closed down quickly and even the so called “big clubs” used to shake at the thought of going to Goodison.
We experienced some of that in the “Lingard” season, but I’m afraid that’s long gone.
He seems paranoid about trying to avoid defeat rather than win matches and, as you say, plays the opposition up before each game so that if we lose, we’ve lost to a “top quality side”.
I actually like Danny Ings but yes, his best years are behind him but he’s a penalty box striker and we don’t get the ball in the opposition half, let alone the box !
Defoe and Cottee would look Hackney Marshes level in this West Ham team.
We were diabolical last year in the league, but playing third tier teams in the Conference papered over the cracks, and I fear another poor campaign.
The fact we have Luton, Burnley and Sheffield United this year means we probably won’t go down, but we’ll be nearer bottom than top.
I think Mr.Moyes has had his day, and we need to change manager before the January window. We needed about seven players in the Summer window, not four with the loss of Rice, and Olympiacos showed how lightweight the back up is.
Problem is, West Ham don’t employ very good managers – going back: Roeder, Curbishlley, Pardew – recently Grant and Pellegrini.
Let’s hope some due diligence is under way as we need someone younger with fresh ideas especially going forward, to get bums off seats.
Don’t fancy us against Everton – our slow, laborious build up they will defend easily against and I fancy them to nick it.
Wait for the next round of Moyes excuses – probably that Everton have shown lately they will challenge for Champions League place 😁
All the best
Ken.
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Great points Ken. I have never been anti-Moyes as a matter of principle and have been a swing voter during his time at West Ham. As you say, he had some good sides and good players in his Everton days. But the game has moved on and Moyes seems unable to adapt once his preferred West Ham style had been rumbled by other coaches. The best hope is that this Steidten fellow is scouring the continent as we speak for the next great coach. I quite like the look of what the guy at Ipswich has done personally. No Prem experience but someone has to give them their first chance
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Thanks Geoff for articulating so accurately the situation at the club. The DM press conferences are so banal and obtuse that I always pause/ fast-forward. We communicated about this months ago, but I suspect he is – with the stone age tactics – out of his depth dealing with a player like Paqueta. Now Kudus must be wondering where he’s landed. I think we have the players to beat Everton, though. I’m hoping we go into the next transfer window at least mid-table, then we can offload, and Steidten can bring in some new players.
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I would agree that we have better players than Everton. But are we cute enough to cut through their massed defence. Watching Liverpool labour to do it last week even against ten men made me wonder how well we would manage. Certainly need something to happen in the transfer window but as you suggest there are flair players and then there are Moyes players.
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West Ham fans in meltdown? Why would that be? Ninth in the league and good start in Europa League despite the loss this week. I support another team, but why are fans so unrealistic about what their team can achieve. The premier league, believe it or not, has a lot of good teams in it. Playing in Europe means having to rotate your squad. I’m sure David Moyes didn’t write off Olympiakos, but you can’t just play your best team each week. I think you should enjoy the ride a bit more. You did win a trophy last year did you not?
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It’s possible if you follow West Ham in the newspaper to be satisfied with what is going on at the club. On the other hand, if you are someone who regularly watches games then there is a high probability that you will be frustrated by the cautious out-dated tactics and the lack of entertainment that has characterised much of the last two seasons. So rather than the frustration being about realistic achievements (or otherwise) it is about waning to watch a team who are enterprising, play without fear and are competitive in every game they play. This is not happening at West Ham under the current regime which is dominated by excessive caution. I’m sure every Hammer really appreciated and celebrated the trophy win last year but there needs to be more. We will enjoy the ride once it has more thrills to it.
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I’d also add that as a season ticket holder I have to watch – week in, week out, some truly awful stuff. If Moyes is retained beyond this season I will not be renewing.
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Geoff, forgive me for repeating something I wrote in the depths of last season
“ what is David Moyse doing that is right?”
His failure , along with Sullivan, Steidten, Noble and Newman ( anyone remember him – he is stealing a million pounds of our money each year) to recruit a top- class striker in the Summer is unforgivable. We are now going to be forced to buy or loan in January – choosing from a much smaller pool of players.
Bringing on young players? Not a chance, literally. Marshall can’t get a kick even though we are desperate for a striker.
Tactics? Flintstone FC are way ahead of us and, has been mentioned Pacqueta and Kudus must be wondering what they have joined.
I could go on, but what’s the point. There are none so blind as those that will not see, and our Board is definitely in that category if they can’t see that our great club is going nowhere under this dinosaur. And don’t mention Europe, where we beat a load of third rate sides.
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I loved the European trophy win. Despite being the third tier competition there are some decent teams around when you get to the later stages. There are not many trophies around to win for the less monied clubs, so happy to take that after 43 years. But I feel your frustrations about what could be at the club with the right leadership and ambition. I’m hoping that Steidten can lead the way with a forward thinking managerial appointment in the summer. On the subject of Flintstone FC, Jarrod Bowen would make a great Barney Rubble 😉
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