Football Is A Contract Sport: Will It Be Deal Or No Deal For Moyes As West Ham Welcome Arsenal To The London Stadium

I dreamed of seeing a newspaper headline that the West Ham board had taken out a contract on David Moyes. That did seem a rather extreme reaction to a run of typically lacklustre performances when other less painful remedies were possible. But given the Hammer’s record of recruiting hitmen they would most probably have fired high and wide anyway.

The will-he/ won’t he be offered a new deal plotline is one that looks destined to run and until the end of the season. It’s more interesting than the football after all. I don’t see what benefit there is for the Board in renewing early and arguments of players becoming unsettled appear spurious. It would be surprising if the manager’s future was not in jeopardy amid ongoing supporter disquiet and threats not to renew season tickets. Failure to secure a further season of European football may well be enough to seal his fate.

For me, it has always been a question of performances rather than results. I understand that not everyone sees things the same way and that some are happy to trade entertainment for relative success. Indeed, many outside the club are genuinely puzzled as to why so many supporters want to see a fresh approach to what Moyes has been offering. This week it was the turn of Jim Beglin who urged supporters to ‘get real’ and be thankful for the scraps being served up. It was a surprising comment given that he must have actually seen us play a few times this season. Football so boring that when you watch it on an internet stream even the computer goes to sleep.

Prior to the Manchester United game, I was expecting West Ham to begin a gradual slide down the Premier League table. After the game I am even more convinced it will happen, and have doubts that even top half is within our grasp – unless something drastic happens or Lucas Paqueta makes a rapid return to save the day. Just as Slaven Bilic’s side were toothless in the absence of Dimitri Payet, so it is now without Moyes and Paqueta.

At least the performance at Old Trafford showed some improvement from the Bournemouth game a few days earlier. Up until the break it had been a reasonably well contested match – but the routine of conceding just after the half-time pep talk killed off any thoughts of a stirring comeback. The hosts were nowhere near as good as the media reports excitedly suggested, even though they were comfortable winners. Despite almost unheard-of levels of possession (49%) and 22 touches in the opposition box ,West Ham rarely troubled the Red Devils defence from open play. The best chances were the opening Emerson created and then squandered for himself and the ball over the top to Jarrod Bowen who hesitated a moment too long. On a weekend of record Premier League goalscoring, the Hammers were one of just two teams failing to find the net.

With the chance of a first league double of the season missed at Old Trafford, another presents itself when Arsenal visit the London Stadium on Sunday afternoon. Having also knocked the Gunners out of the League Cup an unprecedented third West Ham win in a season is a possibility – albeit a slim one.

Arsenal announced themselves back in the title race last weekend by beating Liverpool 3-1 at the Emirates. Post match reports paid tribute to Arteta’s tactical genius of playing Karl Havertz as the most advanced player for securing victory. From what I saw, though, the result hinged mightily on a brace of howlers by Alisson in the Liverpool goal. There’s no doubt that Arsenal have a collection of excellent first choice players but they lack the requisite strength in depth to truly worry eventual champions, Manchester City. I really hope players like Nketiah and Nelson are not on the Hammer’s radar when they are finally cleared out in the summer.

We must wait to see whether Moyes has a brilliant tactical plan of his own for dashing the Gunner’s hopes. Or whether he will play the same way that he has for the past 25 years. The relative freedom seen last Sunday will almost certainly revert to the lowest of low blocks in the hope that Bowen or Mohammed Kudus can deliver a get out of jail card. With Kalvin Phillips providing more evidence that he is a long way away from match sharpness, the manager has few options for mixing up his limited squad. But if there’s any way to fit a square peg into a round hole then Moysie is the man to find it.

It is easy to become cynical following West Ham and the feeling is particularly acute right now. My deja-vu moment is that we are in a familiar cycle where Moyes reacts to pressure for a more expansive style by allowing a little more space between the lines for a one or two games. When that inevitability fails to work due to slow, elderly or infirm defenders he claims to have tried and reverts to his tried and tested tactic of all-bar-one behind the ball. It is philosophy rather than formation that needs to change.

Naturally, it would be great to complete a treble against Arsenal (or a quadruple if you count the West Ham Woman’s victory) but the odds of it happening must be very long. Unfortunately, all the pointers are for the winless start to 2024 continuing for another weekend. I so wish it could be different. COYI!