David Moyes finally decided to attack and his team produced an exhilarating performance to shove Everton aside at the London Stadium.
Quick to feet passing with the likes of Lanzini, Kouyate, Mario and Arnie producing tip top performances saw the season out with a bang and started a new debate on the Scot’s future at the club as the board ponder over appointing a new boss or handing him a permanent deal.
Here we present the cases for and against.
FOR
O Arrived with the Hammers having eight points – left with 42 and safety in 13th
O Quickly improved fitness levels of a club which had looked lethargic and disinterested under Bilic
O Switched Marko Arnautovic – who had many doubters from left to central striker – to make a huge impact with 12 goals.
O Switched Arthur Masuaku from defence to an effective left sided midfield player
O Oversaw the arrival of Declan Rice as a first team squad member
O Man managed the squad well after the Burnley pitch invasion with a fine follow up victory over Southampton
O Achieved the job he was brought in to do despite some big injuries to important players
O Dealt well with the Andy Carroll disciplinary problems
AGAINST
O Produced ultra defensive performances – Stoke being a prime example
O Saw the team ship 47 goals in his spell as boss
O Managed eight wins from 27 games
O Had what many considered an extremely poor winter transfer window with just Jordan Hugill, Joao Mario and Patrice Evra in as an out of contract signing.
O Drew much criticism for calling out Declan Rice and Manu Lanzini after mistakes against Arsenal and Manchester City games
O Failed to get anywhere close to solve the Javier Hernandez issue
Well for starters we finished 13th not 11th and Arnautovic scored 11 goals not 12.
How come “won 8 games from 27” is an “Against” yet you also mentioned that he “started with eight points – left with 42” as a “For”. Surely without one, we would not have had the other.
Failing to sort out the Hernandez problem is probably down to having the lack of personnel required to integrate him into the system. Playing Arnie up front instead, which you rightly regard as a good thing, is probably why Chicarito was not used quite so much.
The only real demonstrable negative that can be stacked against moyes is his general cautious approach to most games he’s been in charge of. The playing style, starting 11 and use of subs (normally reactive and too late in a game).
Other than that, this isn’t his team, and I’m not aware Moyes is responsible for our lack of spend in January.
100% bang on
Definitely agree with the late subs Chek +1 to the rest also.
It wasn’t the only game that we attacked . That’s probably why we didn’t get relegated with a poor team . If you can’t give Moyes some credit you most likely wouldn’t give any manager in any team any credit . For crying out loud ,,, don’t know what people expect from a near relegated team into a survival team . There were teams worse than us but six months ago we were on the list of favorites to go down . Seems the results against Man Utd , Southampton , Chelsea , Stoke , Liecester and Everton are all too easily forgotten .
Don’t forget the other winter signing. Joao Mario made an increasingly big impact. A front three next season of him, Lanzini and Marko would be a pretty good place to start.
And I don’t think we should minimise Moyes by saying he only attacked versus Everton. We also took the game to Leicester. He deserves to be given the chance to build on the past six monfhs.
If we shop around too long, Moyes will be gone. And these other names are not credible. Just in England, they have the chance of Chelsea and Arsenal before us. Why would they take the chance, given our recent past?
Yeah also the negative style against Stoke was the percentage play, it nearly backfired of course but the priority for that game was not too lose had we attacked and been caught wide open would have given a massive shot in the arm to Stoke and kick in the guts too us.
looks like the shameful and disgraceful campaign to replace moyes after only a 6 month stint is about to happen. sky sports news reporting that moyes likely on his way out. we all know what has happened, moyes wanted too many changes and too much investment in training facilities and staff. sullivan being the control freak that he is most probably couldnt bear relinquishing any more control of the club over to moyes. despite gold saying he would like to see moyes at the helm for many years to come, its sullivan who likes to micro manage the manager on a daily basis. moyes pearce etc are too old school for that. foreign puppet manager here we come. and it will be sullivans hand up the new managers jacksie.
Yes the stories coming out of Sky Sports are very worrying
One other argument FOR Moyes is that he has put in place a very good support team that will most likely also leave if Moyes goes. What if Rafa shafts us again and we will be left scrabbling for anyone who will take the job – will need to get to know the players and their strengths and weaknesses and will end up with bargain basement buys and loans
A constant turnover of staff and managers is one of the reasons behind Southampton going from Europa league contenders to a relegation scrap
I hope for the best but fear the worst
I have always supported the 2 Davids despite their faults, but if they ditch Moyes and all his excellent staff in favor of Señor A N Other just to keep up with fashion, then I will think again.
I have supported them also but have become increasingly disenchanted with them, they seem to be letting the tail wag the dog and making mistake after mistake, even when they luckilly appoint a good manager they seem to want to rub his nose in it by interviewing others, bit like ditching the girlfriend for a weekend and telling her you want to see what else the market has to offer but you might come back to her ?
I wonder how Moyes would do with Obiang, Antonio, and Mario in the team plus liberal use of our best U-23’s. That said, we still have a thin squad and need at least 4-6 signings for critical positions.
After much ruminating, I’m still unsure as to who would be the optimal appointment.
I’d sooner sack the present owners and bring in someone more generous in their allocation of summer transfer funds.