Match – Page 16 – Under The Hammers

“You’ve Never Had It So Good” Claims SuperJock As West Ham Continue Their Slide Down The Table

With managerial chaos and uncertainty dominating the narrative at the London Stadium, West Ham must prepare for their customary defeat to Thomas Frank’s Brentford

It is almost impossible to imagine a scenario where David Moyes is offered a new contract by West Ham at the end of the season. Only a madman could conclude that another term of Moyesball is the right and sensible option for the club. The Board may see Moyes as ‘the devil they know’ but there is far too much antipathy from supporters for it to work – and they are unlikely to take two or more years of misery lightly. Would a business owner knowingly sign-up for that – an extended period of guaranteed toxicity?

Although the owners will have their major focus on revenues, they cannot be impervious to the cause of fan unrest – a style of football that will bore the pants off from anyone paying more than casual attention. With 60% of the club’s income originating from Broadcasting (including prize money) the past three seasons may well have served them handsomely. But with the recent slide down the table and the prospect of further European participation fading by the week, there will already be a hit to revenues – without risking a season ticket holders revolt.

By the time West Ham kick-off against Brentford on Monday night they will most likely be down to tenth in the table. Had it not been for the Carabao cup final distracting Chelsea, they would probably have slipped into the bottom half. And history doesn’t offer much hope that the long eight game winless run will come to an end against the Bees.

If anyone had been looking for a reaction to the Arsenal slaughter during last Saturday’s visit to Nottingham, they were sadly disappointed. With Lucas Paqueta still absent through injury and Forest doubling up on Mohammed Kudus the lack of creativity on show was painfully obvious. The return of Michail Antonio should have been a positive but served only to reinforce the obsession with route-one football. When presented with the Hammers only realistic goal opportunity of the afternoon he fluffed his lines as often happens when allowed too much time. West Ham may have enjoyed more possession than is usual in games, but were slow and predictable with their possession. The long misdirected cross-field representing the go-to tactic. The hosts had the lion’s share of goalscoring attempts and could easily have doubled their final tally.

Rather than taking the opportunity in his post-match comments to apologise for yet another abject and depressing performance, Moyes opted for tetchy distraction with tales of his winning genius. It convinced no-one and served only to widen the divide between manager and fans. Perhaps if you add in three seasons of Euro group games against teams from third tier continental leagues then his win percentage still looks healthy. But in the Premier League, it is now just 27 wins from the last 81 games. Hardly genius level.

The uncertainty over Moyes future has been a godsend for the clickbait websites who on a single day can carry stories that he is about to sign a new contract, that he has x games to save his job, and that West Ham have drawn up a shortlist of managerial replacements. A list that bizarrely has Steve Cooper’s name included on it – possibly as a diversity candidate.

None of us know what is actually going on, or how the various board members view the situation. The vacuum of uncertainty exists because I believe they intend to limp along until the end of the season under the current regime. Allowing Moyes contract to run down avoids accusations from the punditocracy that they have treated their pal harshly.

While most pundits continue to implore us to “be careful what we wish for” – is the collective noun a predictability of pundits – a few have started to break ranks and suggest that fans are right to want better. That anyone can believe the manager has what it takes to turn things around or lead the club forward is magical thinking. The tendency for casual observers is to confuse results with performances – but to the supporter they are very different. There have been very few notable performances this season even if impressive results against Brighton, Spurs, and Arsenal have been recorded. They were more a case of opponents not taking chances, riding your luck and benefiting from individual moments of brilliance from Paqueta, Kudus or Jarrod Bowen. A style of play based around the low block might turn up trumps once in a while, but it is not a recipe for long term sustainable success in any competition higher in quality than the Europa Conference.

And if results aren’t quite as brilliant as they have been presented, the negligence in running down the size and quality of the squad could be considered a sacking offence in its own right. And this despite large sums of money being invested in the transfer market. It has left us short on experience, with precious few options from the bench, and is the reason why so many end up playing out of position. Equally, the manager has no track record of improving or developing players – apart from trying to shoehorn them into his rigid system. It cannot be an attractive proposition for potential signings and it’s hard to imagine the existing playing staff being at all happy with it.

I fully expect the winless run to continue into next month when we play Burnley. Thomas Frank has had the measure of Moyes tactics from the very start and there’s nothing to suggest that Monday will be the time to take a first Premier League point from Brentford. The only hope is that Paqueta finally returns to deliver a stroke of inspiration – for without him the team is impotent. With Kalvin Phillips suspended there will be a recall for Tomas Soucek – providing another chance to see the 1970’s tactic of goal kicks lofted towards the touchline for Soucek to head on. It’s the beauty of Moyesball. With a guarantee that Ivan Toney will pick up at least one goal, the Hammers will need to break their three game duck if they are going to put an end to the Brentford whitewash. COYI!

Can West Ham win at Nottingham Forest to avoid a run of eight winless games at the beginning of a calendar year?

Once again Geoff hit the nail on the head with his article published on Thursday. Week after week we seem to be writing the same thing about the current state of the team, and the ongoing debate concerning the manager. The longer the winless run continues the further the pendulum will swing towards Moyes Out, especially with catastrophic performances like the one we witnessed last Sunday. There are still a number of fans, although the number must surely be dwindling, who are convinced that he should be offered a new contract, but it is hard to believe that they like what they see from week to week.

It is mainly pundits, comprising the same ex-players that dominate our screens and airwaves, and journalists who continue to support Moyes and suggest that West Ham fans are giving him an undeserved hard time. One of the latest to join in is Ian Herbert who took a whole page of Wednesday’s Daily Mail to tell us that ‘Moyes deserves a better exit.’ At least he seems to agree that the end is approaching, but suggests that we, as fans, are not giving him a ‘longer credit line and greater appreciation’.

He suggests that the calls for a manager like De Zerbi, who many feel would provide greater imagination and flair, provides a curious logic, given that ‘the supposed model manager’ has taken Brighton to ninth position in this season’s Premier League while West Ham are …. eighth. As far as the demands for Potter goes amongst the fans, he writes that he is out of work and very much available. But he adds the well-worn line that we, as West Ham fans, get thrown at us every week, should be careful what we wish for in Potter. In his view he is a coach lacking personal charisma who is no more a fit for the club than Moyes.

His defence of Moyes extends to trying to deconstruct the notion that with him in charge it has all been grey, solid, dull football. He makes the point that in Moyes second spell in charge the club have scored more goals per game than under any manager in the Premier League era, and only Bilic managed more goals per game than Moyes in his first spell in charge.

And then the heights to which Moyes has taken us are set out, as all his ‘defenders’ do. You know the ones – the club have managed five top seven finishes in the Premier League era and Moyes has been in charge for two of them. And of course the first trophy for 43 years.

We all know this so why is there a ‘perception’ among the fans that the football is dull? We want to see a team that provides more entertainment. We want to see a squad that can move the club forward, greater depth in all positions, so that when key players are missing, others can come in to do a job. For how long have we been crying out for additions in certain positions where the squad has been depleted?

We want to see better team selection, not full backs deployed on the left wing. We want to see greater ambition; we don’t want the team to try to hang on the slender leads when we have them, we want to see our team go for the jugular. We want a manager who can make adjustments during the game when it is necessary to do so not just continue to rely on Plan A.

We want a manager who will play the players in their best positions to get the best out of them. We don’t want four central midfielders lining up at the start of a game. We want a manager who will make less predictable substitutions. Why do we always have to wait until it is seemingly too late to make changes during a game that might affect the outcome? When we are behind we don’t want to see like for like defensive substitutions, we want to have a go.

We want to see better use of successful Academy players. Don’t throw them all in at once of course, but at least give them a taste when appropriate to do so. We don’t want players picked because they seem to be favourites who, on the odd occasion, because of their height will win the ball in the air, whilst at the same time lacking an inability to control the ball or pass successfully to a team mate.

We want to be entertained with flair and style. Perhaps we want too much. Be thankful for what we have they say. Be careful what you wish for. The grass isn’t always greener etc. etc. I’ll thank David Moyes for his time at the club, and for his achievements. His record is decent, but as I have written before, I believe that most football managers (with very few exceptions) have a shelf-life that expires. Has the ‘best before’ date already been reached or gone past?

When was the last time a West Ham team began a calendar year without a win in seven games (all competitions)? I’ve been trawling through the records to try to find out. In 1998/99, a season with Harry Redknapp in charge where we eventually finished fifth, we began the 1999 calendar year poorly, failing to win until the seventh game, ironically against Nottingham Forest on 13^th February.

I’ve now found it. In 1996/97, again in Redknapp’s time, we went winless in the first eight games of 1997 before defeating Tottenham 4-3 at Upton Park. Failure to win at Nottingham Forest this weekend will see us equal that (unwanted) record.

Out of interest I went all the way back to the 1958/59 season to see if I could find any other winless periods of more than seven games at the start of a calendar year. I couldn’t find any so I went back to when we joined the Football League in 1919. The calendar year 1922 started poorly with a run of eight winless games, but despite that we still finished fourth in Football League Division Two in 1921/22. I did find examples of longer consecutive winless games at other stages of seasons. There are a few odd examples of 8, 9, 10 or 11 games in a row without a win, which not surprisingly included some relegation campaigns.

The longest consecutive winless runs I found were 12 in the 2002/03 relegation season (Glenn Roeder) – ironically the final 12 games in the calendar year (2002), and the biggest of all was the 13 winless games at the very beginning of the 1973/74 season. In fact that season we only won one of the first 21 games between August 8^th and early December. But incredibly we rallied in the second half and lost only 3 league games from the beginning of 1974 to the end of the season and avoided relegation by one point.

1968/69 was an interesting season during which we had a consecutive run of 9 winless games twice. In the first half of the season the winless run came to an end when we beat Sunderland 8-0 (the Geoff Hurst 6 game), and then we also didn’t win any of the final 9 games but still ended up a creditable eighth.

With the run of games coming up surely the winless run won’t extend much further to match any of those I’ve referred to above? If it does then perhaps a new manager will be appointed sooner rather than later.

Fans Fan Flames As Moyes Faces Forest Fire

After last weekend’s slaughter West Ham put their winless 2024 run to the test against Nottingham Forest at the City Ground. What could possibly go wrong for the Moyesball machine?

I’ve said this before but it is a mystery to me that anyone would support an extension to David Moyes contract at the London Stadium. Is it really possible that anyone who has actually sat and watched West Ham play recently would reach the conclusion that two and a half more years of this is exactly what is needed?

The ritual humiliation at the hands of Arsenal last Sunday was the perfect storm of the manager’s shortcomings condensed into a single ninety minute horror show – bizarre team selection, outdated tactics, lack of ambition, reckless depletion of the squad, poor substitution policy, and the inability to make in-game adjustments according to circumstances. Let’s face it, once the inevitable first goal was conceded there was never going to be a way back for the Hammers.

Remember this is the team that Moyes has built and coached for himself over the past four season – at not insignificant cost. Of the 14 players used against Arsenal only Ben Johnson and Aaron Cresswell were at the club before he arrived. Yet to hear the manager talk you would get the impression that events on the pitch have nothing to do with. His was a cunning plan whose brilliance was only let down by the players executing it badly.

Moyes continues to get plenty of support from the pundits and media commentators community who demonstrate a disappointingly superficial view of the club and its fans. After all, West Ham are merely a support act to the big six in their thinking. The results look OK, so complaints are delusional. Get real! The idea that fans might want something more than the current turgid, unadventurous offering is unthinkable. What, they want to be entertained as well?

Most of the fan polls I’ve seen are hoping for change with many threatening to give us season tickets if the manager is renewed. Even through the Board’s financially skewed lens they must be starting realise that this team can only scrape a top ten finish at best and will not be playing in Europe next season. And Moyesball is not the biggest selling point to attract promising talent.

I’m not at all convinced by the frequently aired argument that Moyes has done a fantastic job at West Ham – although that might depend on what you expect from your manager. On paper his legacy is decent with consecutive top seven finishes and the club’s first trophy for over 40 years. The history books will not be concerned with the state of the current squad – small, slow and old – with how much money has been spent to achieve that, or that the trophy win – as welcome as it was – offered little by way of stiff competition. West Ham are reported to be the eighth richest club in the Premier League – that is our benchmark as an established top tier club. We should not be run and play like a newly promoted club that is seeking consolidation

It is difficult to look at West Ham and believe that a platform for the future is under construction. That is a reflection on both the Board and the manager. Temporary fixes to long standing structural problems have unfortunately been papered over by European glory.

There’s no doubt that Moyes first full season at the London Stadium was full of promise, particularly during the purple patch when Jesse Lingard was surging into space in the opposition half. It was by most measures the Hammers best ever Premier League season. But there was a watershed for Moyes and his tactics which occurred as we welcomed in 2022. Between the start of the 2020/21 season and December 2021 Moyes could boast a 50% win percentage and an average of 1.7 points per game. The record since then (to date) shows the win percentage dropping to 33% with a return of 1.2 points per game. Hardly impressive! The consequence of everyone knowing how West Ham play and a manager who is unable to change his twenty year old tactics.

Apparently, the club has now returned to the groundhog cycle of giving the manager three or four games to save his job. These would be away to Nottingham Forest and Everton and home to Brentford and Burnley. On current performances, the Burnley game in mid-March looks the earliest opportunity to put an end to the 2024 winless run – and, I suppose, to reset the doomsday sacking clock one more. What a way to run a football club.

The first of these games is this weekend’s visit to the City Ground which is always a passionate and tricky affair. Despite impressive wins over Newcastle and Manchester United following the appointment of Nuno Espirito Santo, Forest are also winless in the league in 2024 – although they did manage to defeat both Blackpool and Bristol City in the FA Cup. They will view the game against a shell-shocked West Ham as a perfect opportunity to put daylight between themselves and the rest of the relegation pack. How easily the Hammers defence succumbed to the Arsenal overload at set pieces will not have gone unnoticed.

Early team news suggests that both Lucas Paqueta and Michail Antonio will continue to be absent for the Hammers. It leaves Moyes with few options to mix up his beleaguered charges. Something needs to be done at the back and there must be huge concerns about Kurt Zouma’s ongoing fitness woes. A centre-back pairing of Nayef Aguerd and Dinos seems most probable. But don’t rule out the tantalising prospect of Aaron Cresswell and Angelo Ogbonna pushing for recalls in a safety first back five. The standard Moyes response to a big loss is to get back to basics and become even more cautious.

There was an amusing story online yesterday that West Ham were dismayed to discover Kalvin Phillips had eaten too many chip butties and was overweight when he joined West Ham. Apparently, a West Ham medical does not include being weighed which led to Moyes unknowingly putting him straight into the first team. Whether Phillips or Edson Alvarez gets to partner the undroppable Tomas Soucek is an unanswered question. Soucek does seem to be a decent fella but is there a more technically limited outfield player in the Premier League right now? The giveaway for me is the number of times he heads the ball or hooks it first time rather than rely on his control.

In attack, Maxwell Cornet wanted to know whether he needed to bring his boots along this weekend. I wonder whether we can top six touches in the opposition box for this game?

I’ll admit that at half-time last weekend I was half-hoping Arsenal would go on to score double figures causing Moyes to quit in embarrassment. I’m similarly torn this week. Never want to see my team beaten but equally want a fresh face and new ideas in the manager’s dugout. I know that relies on the Board making a sensible appointment as replacement, but we have nothing if we don’t have hope. COYI!

Can West Ham beat Arsenal for the third time this season?

It has only been a little over three months since we faced Arsenal for the first time this season in the EFL Cup. On the evening of 1st December Arsenal were below par, they left some key players including our old captain on the bench and VAR was on our side by not being there. If it had been in operation the opening goal might have been ruled out for Soucek holding Ramsdale’s shirt. The outcome of the game might have been different.

Arsenal’s domination of possession (72%) meant nothing when Kudus superbly controlled Aguerd’s 50 yard pass and fired home, and then Bowen made it three. Odegaard pulled one back with the final kick in the game but this meant nothing and we were through to the next round.

A little under two months later we travelled to North London to face them in a Premier League game. Once again we won the game. Arsenal’s undoing was their inability to convert possession (up to 74% this time) and domination (30 shots to 6) into goals. Some controversy over the first goal but VAR was unable to confirm whether or not the ball had gone out before Bowen hooked it back for Soucek to score. Mavropanos added a second with an excellent header early in the second half. The score line could have been even worse for the Gunners when Rice gave away a last minute penalty, but Benrahma’s effort was comfortably saved by Raya. That was the halfway point in the season and we were on 33 points, our highest ever total at this stage of a Premier League campaign.

Six weeks later and we are meeting them for the third time. Two wins, a 5-1 aggregate, how can we go wrong? Well, since that win at the Emirates we haven’t won a game in six attempts, as poor a start to a calendar year as we have made in more than 25 years. We have not been at full strength and unfortunately without our first choice eleven we struggle.

The 3-0 defeat to Manchester United last Sunday was perhaps a slightly improved performance when compared to recent games. We had almost 50 percent possession and 22 shots on goal, but as proved in the Arsenal games, possession and shots counts for nothing in the end, only goals count. Our xg was better than theirs too so do we get consolation points for that? Of course not. The game is full of statistics but until they start tinkering with the points system (and let’s hope they don’t!) it will remain as goals that count and nothing else.

Talking of tinkering have you read this week about the forthcoming trials for blue cards to be introduced alongside the yellow and red ones that currently exist? As I understand it for certain misdemeanours (cynical fouls or dissent) players will be shown a blue card and sent to a sin bin for 10 minutes. I have also read many positive comments by some who want this to happen. Is it me – am I the only person who think the idea is bonkers and will ruin the game? I may be wrong but I can just imagine teams with a player sitting out for 10 minutes attempting to waste time, taking as long as they can get away with to take goal kicks and throw ins, and perhaps trying to keep the ball near the corner flag? Just because they do it in rugby doesn’t mean it would be right for football. But based on what I have read I am in the minority with my view. Or am I?

I’ve also read that the Premier League don’t intend to use semi automated offside technology next season as they don’t think it is accurate enough. Wasn’t it used in the World Cup in Qatar? Don’t they use it in the Champions League? But not good enough for the Premier League eh? They prefer their people in Stockley Park taking an age to draw lines. Mmm.

If you haven’t yet read Geoff’s article published on Friday then take a look now. The Moyes love him or hate him debate continues among our fans. Will he get a new contract? If Paqueta returns soon and we keep a fit first eleven then we might just do enough in the remainder of the season for the board to give him one. I think that would be a mistake. Results wise he has done a good job. Entertainment not so. I don’t believe that the two are mutually exclusive. The two can co-exist. I believe that football managers have a limited shelf life with individual clubs. With few exceptions I believe that both the clubs and the managers themselves benefit from moving on elsewhere. It’s probably true of many jobs.

So can we beat Arsenal for the third time this season? It would put a dent in their chase for the title if we did. Bookmakers don’t give us much of a chance. You can get odds of around 5/1 if you fancy our chances; Arsenal are around 2/1 on. I’d love it if we did win but I just can’t see it based on our recent form since the turn of the year. Seven consecutive winless games certainly won’t help the manager in his contract negotiations! It’s almost twenty years since we did the league double over Arsenal. When did we last beat them three times in a season? In 1924-25 we actually played them six times. We won both league games by an odd goal, we knocked them out of the FA Cup at the third time of asking after two drawn games, and in the London FA Challenge Cup we beat them again. Four times in one season!

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

With a transfer window that promised much and delivered little now closed we can all turn our attention to the question of the manager’s contract. What will it all mean as West Ham seek to resist the title-chasing Gunners

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!

History and current form suggests that West Ham will not win at Old Trafford on Sunday

The Hammers haven’t yet won a match in 2024 in five attempts. They haven’t gone winless in six games at the start of a calendar year for 25 years.

It is difficult to add to Geoff’s excellent article published yesterday. It seems incredible that we are sitting sixth in the Premier League after 22 games of the season, and on current form (the last five matches) we are one of only three teams who haven’t been beaten, the other two being Liverpool and Manchester City. But we haven’t won a single game in 2024 at five attempts either. And not exactly the toughest fixtures.

A goalless draw at home to Brighton to begin the year with the Seagulls being the better team, two games against a mediocre Bristol City team that knocked us tamely out of the FA Cup, outplayed at the bottom club Sheffield United, albeit robbed by some atrocious officiating, and then finally lucky to snatch a draw at home to a Bournemouth side who looked far more dangerous but saved by a mixture of poor finishing and some excellent saves from Areola. The headline writers loved having a go at Phillips for the Bournemouth goal – for me Zouma was far more culpable.

At the same time the entertainment is dire, and despite all the rumours, nobody was added to the squad to boost our attacking options in the transfer window which closed this week. And what was all that nonsense that led to the delayed departures of Benrahma and Fornals? The manager is allegedly on the verge of signing a new two-and-a-half year contract which will delight the Moyes luvvies and the “careful what you wish for brigade” whilst enraging supporters looking for more entertainment who believe that we have players who could achieve so much more with a less cautious approach.

Manchester United are next, and there isn’t a lot of history or current form to suggest that we’ll achieve anything in this game. We haven’t won there in the league for many years, not since the infamous Tevez goal that kept us in the top-flight in 2007. That was the last time we did the double over them too. In fact we beat them in three consecutive league fixtures at that time for the first time since the 1970s. An unlikely win in this game would enable us to match the three wins in a row once again. We have beaten them eight times since 2007, but seven of those have been home fixtures, and our only away win came in the league cup a couple of years ago.

In 55 Premier League meetings they have won 33, 13 have been drawn, and we have won 9, including the last two, both at the London Stadium. They have scored more than 100 goals against us in those games and we haven’t yet scored 50. Late goals from Bowen and Kudus did however enable us to win a fairly drab game just before Christmas.

If we avoid defeat then that would be seven league games in a row, but conversely if we don’t win then that would be six games in all competitions at the beginning of a calendar year without winning a game, something that hasn’t happened for 25 years!

David Moyes time at the helm for Manchester United lasted just 34 league matches, and this will apparently be the 34^th Premier League game where he is taking charge against them. When facing them he has never won a league game at Old Trafford.

You have to go back to the record-breaking season of 1985-86 to find a West Ham victory over Manchester United in the month of February when Cottee and Ward scored the goals in a 2-1 win at Upton Park in front of just 22,000 fans. Our sole February victory in a league game at Old Trafford came in 1929, 95 years ago this week. The attendance that day was a mere 12,000!

So there is very little to suggest that we can win this time. But I’m forever hopeful! What are the chances?

West Ham Log 2024: It’s Football Dave But Not As We Know It, Moyes Out!

Do we really need another two years of dour Dave’s drab and dreary caution? Does anyone enjoy watching West Ham play these days? How much longer can the manager cling on?

It’s a question that’s been asked before but is there anyone left who genuinely looks forward to watching West Ham play right now? Sure, there may be those who follow the results from a distance and take quiet satisfaction of seeing the team sitting sixth in the standings and having reached the last 16 of the Europa League. But does any fan who takes the time to watch games closely believe what they see is good value. That a game plan built on caution and attrition is worthy of the beautiful game. Does anyone ever say to their mates “Going to the game? I never get tired of watching West Ham’s resilience”?

David Moyes has been at West Ham for just over four years now. After a slow start, he hit a purple patch with a sixth place finish in his first full season. The swift counter-attacking football took opponents by surprise and, for a while, was exciting to watch. While the form carried over into the first half of the following season, West Ham had become a known quantity by now. Opponents worked that a high press cancelled out the counterattacking threat and without a tactical plan B, Moyes approach became increasingly cautious.

Fans desperate to see a fresh face and fresh ideas in the London Stadium technical area are routinely accused by the pundit community of being deluded or entitled. “Careful what you wish for” is the stock response. West Ham supporters should be grateful they are not in a relegation battle. That showing greater ambition would without question replace grim one goal victories with assured 4-3 defeats. Media outlets likewise are loathe to be critical of the manager, fearing losing access for their next big story. Even so, some have started to openly admit that watching West Ham is not easy on the eye – although preferring to describe the style as pragmatic, rather than boring. The well-worn phrase that football is a results business misses the point that it is also meant to entertain.

The elephant in the dressing room is, of course, the Europa Conference league win. After 43 trophy-less years it was amazing to experience the club winning something again. For many supporters it would have been a first ever taste of success. But in the cold light of day we cannot ignore the relative strength of the competition that we were in. The scenes in Prague at the end of the night and in east London the following day demonstrated how much it meant to the Hammer’s faithful. But Moyes can’t dine out on that result forever in the face of growing fan unrest. Surely, the Board are aware of that.

This season has been a weird one in many respects. It almost came as a surprise to find us sitting in sixth place at the turn of the year, so unremarkable were our performances. There have been several notable results – winning away at Brighton, Tottenham and Arsenal were all unexpected– that owed much to dogged defensive resistance. But in very few of the ten league wins to date have West Ham been a dominant force. They say that a good team needs to know how to win ugly, but it shouldn’t be the default model.

The Hammers remain without a win in 2024. Having been knocked out of the FA Cup by Championship opposition, they have drawn each of their three Premier League games. They were outplayed by both Brighton and Bournemouth at the London Stadium and despite being rightly aggrieved at the poor refereeing in Sheffield, did not deserve to come away with more than a point on the balance of play. With games against Manchester United and Arsenal on the horizon, the chances of extending the stay in the sunlit uplands of the top six may very well be limited.

There are parallels between this season and 2021/22 where the team were also handily placed to push on as the January transfer window opened. Just as the club failed to act then, little was achieved this time around either, aside from the loan signing of Kalvin Phillips. Even more unexpectedly, a squad which was woefully thin anyway was allowed to become a net three lighter following the belated departures of Said Benrahma and Pable Fornals. Both players clearly went backwards during their time at West Ham – did they become worse players or simply get disillusioned – but have still been among the most used substitutes from the bench this term. Is Moyes now going to turn to youth or just make even fewer in-game changes?

The team selection for the Bournemouth game was bizarre to say the least. The decision to select all his favourites even if it meant playing them out of position must have seemed a good idea in the manager’s head. Would none of his assistants dare challenge him on the madness of putting JWP on the left wing and pushing Tomas Soucek forward as a Number 10? That Kalvin Phillips might be a tad ring rusty came as no surprise to the average fan but was apparently beyond an experienced manager with a thousand plus games under his belt. In fairness the real culprit for the Bournemouth goal was Kurt Zouma but digging out Phillips made for a better headline.

Sunday sees Moyes take his Hammers side to Old Trafford to face an erratic Manchester United side. The Red Devils victory in their topsy-turvy midweek encounter with Wolves moved them to within a point of West Ham. Moyes has never won as a manager at Old Trafford in 17 attempts and Carlos Tevez was the last Hammer to score a league winner there in 2007.

It is not difficult to predict that we will see a backs to the wall low West Ham block which will be described as a defensive masterclass if we win, but as tame surrender if we lose. Definitely less than 30% possession and fewer that ten touches in the opposition box – mostly headers.

I can see Moyes dropping Phillips to the bench for this one, allowing Soucek to drop back and Danny Ings to reprise his Bramall Lane role behind Jarrod Bowen. The most probable outcome is a comfortable home win unless further heroics from Alphonse Areola and Mohammed Kudus earn a point as they did on Thursday. It could well be the start of a Hammers slide down the table and its not difficult to imagine being overtaken by Manchester United, Newcastle, Brighton, and Chelsea before the season is out. It really is time for a change. COYI!

West Ham Versus Bournemouth Preview: Thursdays, Transfers and Takings

It’s Thursday night and so it must be time for a West Ham game. Will events on the pitch be as exciting as the live feed from the transfer window?. Or will both end in disappointment?

Once again, the schedulers have seen fit to shunt the Hammer’s forthcoming Premier league fixtures to the graveyard Thursday/ Sunday slots. As if we don’t already have enough of that during the weeks of European competition. It is a consequence, perhaps, of West Ham not being the easiest of watches under the current pragmatic regime.

Still David Moyes team continue to hold on to sixth spot in the standings and would have been even handier placed had it not been for the scandalous antics of the Stockley Park VARmin ten days or so ago. They must have already shut down their monitors to have missed the late penalty area assault on Jarrod Bowen in the final seconds.

Today’s game is also scheduled to coincide with the ceremonial ‘slamming shut’ of the transfer window – just as it had in the summer when West Ham were featured in the Friday night game at Luton. Why interrupt the evening’s nail-biting excitement by playing a football match?

As usual the January window is proving to be a triumph of hope over expectation. I had mentioned previously that precious little happens in this window, especially at West Ham. It’s almost as if all those reports of players being linked, bids being made, and talks being held are made up. Despite all the evidence, we still like to imagine something will happen.

As things stand the first team squad is one man down on its pre-window strength if persistent rumours that Said Benrahma and Pablo Fornals might join the exodus then the bones will be even barer. New recruits are badly needed but time is rapidly running low – short-term, squad filling panic buys are not what is wanted. A whole month has passed to make a move, yet here we are scrambling around looking to grab a bargain in the final minutes.

The lack of activity has focused attention once again on the presumed mismatch of priorities between manager David Moyes, recruitment guru Tim Steidten and bean counter David Sullivan. Cheap, young, talented footballers with extensive Premier League experience appear to be in short supply for some reason. It must be a frustrating environment for Steidten who had been employed on the strength of the magic he had performed at Bayer Leverkusen – but at a club that lacks the courage of its convictions. It now appears that Liverpool are sniffing around for his services and who could blame him if he jumped onboard the Mersey ship? I doubt we need worry so much about Moyes being headhunted in light of the Liverpool and Barcelona jobs about to become vacant?

The annual Deloitte Football Money League was published recently and emphasised how big the financial gap is between the also-rans (like West Ham) and the six rich clubs of English football. The standings, based on annual revenues, show Real Madrid as the world’s richest club with Manchester City just behind. A total of eight Premier League clubs are in the top twenty with West Ham slipping down to 18^th after a poor league season in 2022/23.

The following table shows the breakdown between Matchday, Broadcasting (including prize money) and Commercial revenues for each club in the top 20, plus revenue totals for the other English clubs ranked between 21 and 30. All the figures reported are in Euros.

What immediately stands out – apart from the size of the gap – is how poor West Ham’s matchday and commercial receipts are in comparison with the big clubs. How and why do Tottenham earn three times the matchday income and five times the commercial income compared to the Hammers. And, of course, those revenues directly influence the size of recruitment and salary budgets. The big stadium bounce has not enriched the club’s coffers anything like imagined and, in relative terms, we are not far ahead of the clubs ranked just below.

Turning to tonight’s game, West Ham face a Bournemouth side much improved from when the two teams met on the opening day of the season. It had taken time for Andoni Iraola to mould the team in his image, but they had hit a rich vein of form before falling to consecutive league defeats against Tottenham and Liverpool. The decision to replace Gary O’Neil with Iraola was controversial but appears to have improved both Bournemouth and Wolves. While the Cherries rely heavily on the rejuvenated Solanke for goals, they have looked a very capable side going forward, although less certain at the back. Semenyo, Tavernier, and Scott will all carry a threat to a rearguard easily unsettled by pace.

Moyes has remained tight-lipped on his own selection options and there are ongoing fitness concerns over Edson Alvarez and Lucas Paqueta. Mohammed Kudus has returned following Ghana’s early exit from AFCON and surely must be ready to start. New arrival Kalvin Phillips is available but with little game time under his belt for the past two season is unlikely to last 90 minutes of competitive football. Ordinarily, his situation would mean several weeks on the bench, but all indications are that this is a Moyes signing who will go straight into the starting eleven. Welcome and good luck, Kalvin.

My hope is that we will eventually see Phillips and Alvarez as a double defensive midfield pivot releasing JWP for more offensive duties behind a front three of Paqueta, Kudus and Jarrod Bowen. It would be an exciting prospect if allowed to flourish. The stumbling block is whether Moyes is prepared to relegate long-term favourite Tomas Soucek to extended bench duty. It would be no surprise if the manager fudged this decision today by allowing Alavarez extra recovery time.

Assuming Paqueta is not yet ready to return then it will be another outing for Danny Ings following his lively performance at Bramall Lane. The one enforced changed will be Ben Johnson replacing the suspended Vladimir Coufal.

A win tonight will put daylight between ourselves and the collection of teams below, but whatever happens the chances are we will remain sixth until the weekend. I don’t have a high degree of confidence its a position that canbe maintained with the current squad strength, but while there’s hope let’s cling to it.

On the opening day of the season West Ham failed to press home their early advantage against Bournemouth and in typical Moyesball style offered the opposition a route back into the game. All it needed was a lucky deflection and two points were dropped. Nothing suggests the underlying approach to games has changed much since then. So a narrow West Ham one goal victory is probably the best a fan can get. COYI!

Robbed by the officials at Sheffield United, can West Ham push on in the league when Bournemouth visit on Thursday evening?

The Post Office Horizon scandal is one of the worst miscarriages of justice I can recall. It involved faulty accounting software creating false shortfalls in the accounts of many sub postmasters leading to over 900 convictions of theft, fraud and false accounting, and at the same time destroying thousands of lives. It took a TV series (Mr Burns versus the Post Office) to speed up the system of getting justice to all those who had been wronged.

Whilst not wishing to classify football in the same way, the officiating of our game at Sheffield United, particularly in the latter stages of the match, was in my opinion a scandal in footballing terms, and was one of the worst examples of poor refereeing and lack of use of VAR I’ve seen. Unfortunately, there are far too many recent examples of ineptitude in this respect. How can officials and VAR get so much wrong? It defies belief.

I’ll start by saying that based on our performance in the game I don’t believe we deserved to get more than a point. The lack of depth in the squad when we have injuries and lack of availability of first choice players was highlighted clearly in our failure to dominate against a team at the foot of the table and staring relegation in the face. I’ll also add that I am a fan of VAR too. But I’m not a fan of the clowns who operate the system. However we would have had three points from the game if the officials and VAR had done their job.

I’ll start with the penalty awarded to us about ten minutes before the end of the ninety. This was a straightforward decision for a referee who gave it when Ings (who had a surprisingly good game based on what we’ve seen from him so far in a West Ham shirt) was clearly caught. VAR seemed to take quite a time to ratify that the decision was correct. Why?

As we entered time added on, Brewster launched himself at Emerson, off the floor, out of control at speed, the clearest of sending off tackles you’ll ever see. Incredibly the referee (Salisbury) only showed him a yellow card. At least on this occasion VAR sent him to the monitor and he upgraded the card. We had the correct decision eventually, but how he didn’t give it in the first place was amazing.

We now had a 2-1 lead and 11 v 10. Surely the three points were safe? Coufal continued with his angry mood of recent games and once again seemed to enjoy fouling opponents and looking innocent when penalised. Reacting angrily to the shocking tackle earned him a yellow card and then he unprofessionally stamped on McAtee’s foot and we were 10v10.

The game was well into overtime when a ball was launched into the West Ham area, and as Areola went to punch it clear he had an arm into his face from substitute McBurnie and was left with a bloody lip and had to be treated and leave the field. For me it was a clear free kick to us and yet somehow the referee saw it another way and awarded a penalty. Never mind I thought to myself, thank heavens we’ve got VAR to rectify this nonsensical decision. They keep banging on with the phrase ‘clear and obvious error’ and this was as clear and obvious as it gets. I looked back on the timing afterwards. From the point that the penalty was awarded it was a further 4 minutes and 28 seconds before the kick was taken. How frustrating is it that in all that time that VAR had to look at the incident with all the camera angles and the evidence clearly showing on Areola’s mouth, they stood by the original decision, and didn’t even suggest that the referee had a look on the monitor.

We were now more than 12 minutes overtime when the penalty went in and we thought it was all over. But there was still time for us to kick off and in no time at all yet another astonishing refereeing decision which even capped the one a little earlier was to happen. In an attempt to get to Ben Johnson’s cross Bowen was wrestled to the ground by Ahmedhodzic who wasn’t even looking at the ball coming over. The referee awarded a free kick to Sheffield United. If a referee can honestly believe that McBurnie was fouled and yet the rugby tackle on Bowen wasn’t a foul then something is clearly wrong with the standard of officials and VAR.

Perhaps a TV series, Mr Burns versus referees and VAR would highlight to the nation that something needs to be done? Had the penalty that we should have been awarded been converted, and I’ve no doubt that JWP would have been successful then we would now be sitting on 37 points in sixth place, five clear of seventh place Brighton. In form terms relating to the last five league matches we would have had 13 points, a total that no team in the Premier League can better. The ineptitude of officials and VAR leaves us on 11, still the third best in the league.

Looking at our form I’ve gone back to Wednesday 1^st November to see the results of our games in the three months prior to our meeting with Bournemouth coming up on 1^st February. It has been a busy three months in which we’ve played 18 games. We’ve won 10 of them, drawn 4 and lost 4.

In the Premier League we have played 11, won 6, drawn 3 and lost 2. In the process we have defeated Burnley, Forest, Tottenham, Wolves, Manchester United and Arsenal. The two defeats were disappointing affairs losing 3-2 at Brentford after leading 2-1 and getting thrashed 5-0 at Fulham.

In the Europa League we won all our three games with 4 goals scored and none conceded to progress to the last 16.

The domestic cups have been disappointing. After a convincing win over Arsenal we surrendered at Liverpool in the EFL Cup, and then failed to beat Bristol City in two attempts in the FA Cup.

With 17 league games to go, the addition of an experienced England international to the squad (Phillips), and players returning from AFCON and injury, then surely we can push on to qualify for Europe once again? We will if we can retain our current league position of course. But can we?

As I write this on Tuesday evening prior to the five games being played tonight we have the usual West Ham situation as the transfer window closure approaches; we are no nearer to knowing if we will add any more new players to the squad. Jota and Osman in, Benrahma and Fornals out are the main rumours but who knows? There are always complications of one sort or another where West Ham are concerned.

This is one of those games that it is important to win if we are to maintain our challenge towards the top of the table. I’m on a roll as I predicted a 2-2 draw at Sheffield United (my first correct West Ham result forecast this season). I’ll go for a 3-1 win. What are the chances?

Can West Ham End A Dry January By Stealing The Points In Sheffield?

Injuries, absences, cup exits, and the perennial transfer dithering have produced an inauspicious start to 2024 for the Hammers. Is their visit to basement dwellers Sheffield United a chance to get the show back on the road?

To paraphrase the Lloyd Bridges character in the Airplane movie: “it looks like I picked the wrong month to quit drinking.” The good intentions of keeping off the booze in January being thoroughly tested by lethargic performances on the pitch and (so far) by the lack of activity in the transfer window. With winter breaks and cup exits, today’s visit to Sheffield is a last chance saloon for David Moyes to sidestep the worst manager of the month award.

As Richard described so eloquently in these columns yesterday, the cup exit to Bristol City wouldn’t have come as a great surprise to seasoned supporters of a club that has cornered the banana skin market for many years. The real damage for this year’s ignominy was done when sitting back to defend the early goal advantage in the original tie. What the replay confirmed (as if it needed confirming) was how thin the squad is in quality, how the team lacks leadership on the pitch, and how clueless Moyes is with his use of substitutions.

It is an unusual situation we find ourselves in at West Ham. Sitting an impressive sixth in the league and in the last sixteen of a European competition but riddled with discontent on style of play and entertainment value. Although ‘outsiders’ might be understandably baffled by the reaction of fans, their ‘careful what you wish for’ warnings mistakenly suggest it is a binary choice. That the only options for West Ham are the limited crumbs of success that dour, backs-to-the-wall, unimaginative Moyesball can deliver, or the inevitable relegation battles that would follow a move to a more progressive, open, and expansive approach to the game. There is plenty of ground in between if the club gets to grips with its youth development and scouting strategies.

As ever, we are seduced by the notion that solutions to current problems might be at hand from the winter transfer window – even though experience tells us that little business is ever done in January. That doesn’t prevent the rumour mills, live blogs, and clickbait sites going into overdrive on potential links, talks, deals, and swaps. Perhaps this year will be different and we will be pleasantly surprised for once. With Thilo Kehrer already gone and exits predicted for Said Benrahma, Ben Johnson, and others then the next ten days may well be busier than usual. The suggestion from Moyes that West Ham need to sell before they can buy was an unnecessary message to put out. It only encourages the brinkmanship and delays that so often lead to deals collapsing in the final hours of the window. The seat of the pants approach has rarely worked in the past, so why not get business done early for a change?

We are none the wiser as to what the club’s transfer priorities might be this month. There is no chance that each of the many squad shortfalls can be addressed in a single window. If the plan is to strengthen the starting eleven rather than the squad then an upgrade on Tomas Soucek would be my personal starting point. When Soucek is not scoring, he becomes a passenger whose control and passing are well below Premier League standards. In that respect, a loan move for Kalvin Phillips makes a lot of sense. But Phillips will want a guarantee of starts in advance of the Euros. Will Moyes give him those assurances?

In defence, there are surely growing concerns over the long-term fitness of Kurt Zouma. His mobility seemingly deteriorates on a weekly basis. The rearguard is not built for speed in any case which is a problem for any manager preferring to play a higher defensive line. But I don’t see any centre-back changes for now unless Nayef Aguerd leaves for Saudi Arabia once his AFCON duties are over. Should Johnson – who is out of contract in the summer – depart then cover at full-back would be seriously compromised.

The forward positions continue to be an enigma. The trident of Jarrod Bowen, Lucas Paqueta, and Mohammed Kudus has been the standout feature of the Hammer’s season to date. Clearly better backup options than Michail Antonio and Danny Ings are required but is a new Moyes-style target man exactly what is needed right now? How would Bowen and Kudus be accommodated in that scenario? In fact, it is interesting to speculate how things might have developed had Antonio not picked up a long term injury. Spending big money on a player like Broja from Chelsea would be a big mistake in my view. The ideal would be unearthing a Tim Steidten pearl or, failing that, giving a proper opportunity for Callum Marshall to stake a claim with regular bench appearances.

The apparent pursuit of Wilfried Gnonto is an interesting development. I do have a phobia about speedy wingers who can do little else other than running fast but maybe there is much more to his game – I haven’t seen him enough to judge. He would certainly be an upgrade on Benrahma although as a principle we should be looking to pick up exceptional players, not simply finding someone who is marginally better than what we have already got.

Games against Sheffield United have taken on a pantomime quality ever since the Tevez affair, and no doubt there will be plenty of booing and hissing at Bramall Lane this afternoon. Even at this stage of the season, the Blades look to need snookers to avoid relegation. Their most realistic escape route might be if three clubs above them get hit with massive points deductions as a punishment for financial irregularities. They have yet to see a new manager bounce from the return of Chris Wilder but are facing traditionally generous opponents today as they seek to finally put their points tally into double figures. One-time alleged Hammer’s striker target Brereton Diaz will be making his Premier League debut for the hosts. Always a worry!

West Ham have a good recent record in this fixture having won the last three encounters without conceding – including a dreary 2-0 win at the London Stadium in September. Apparently, if the Hammers keep a clean sheet today it will make it five in a row setting a new record for the club in the Premier League era – an achievement that Moyes would surely love to add to his CV.

Recoveries from injury will be key if West Ham are to return from the steel city with a point or three. The team that got intimidated and outmuscled in Bristol would surely meet the same fate against a determined Sheffield side. Our hopes, therefore, are pinned on at least some of Bowen, Edson Alvarez and even Pablo Fornals being fit and ready to start. Benrahma is, of course, suspended but reading the names Ings and Cornet on the team sheet will see me reaching for the bottle of wine which was being saved to celebrate the closing of the transfer window. COYI!