Shortly after the Bournemouth game myself and a few friends were talking all things West Ham over a few drinks and as the conversation drifted and we decided to film our debate.
We’ve stuck to one subject (sort of) and on this occasion it’s our manager David Moyes who get’s put under the microscope. We discuss his appointment, tactics, managerial record, deployment of players and use of substitutes. We also give our opinions on whether he should be retained at the end of his six month probationary period and try to assess if Moyes is David Sullivan’s ideal manager.
We also look at the often made comparisons between him and Sam Allardyce as well as pondering if he has the ability to change his style as he introduces more of his own choice of player into the team.
It’s fair to say that we did not all agree on everything and his continual deployment of Cheik Kouyate in midfield certainly didn’t meet with universal approval but hopefully we gave a fair appraisal of the manager thus far.
Hopefully you enjoyed the video, we’ll do another next time and try to keep to a single subject once again. Maybe next time we’ll discuss the strikers, stadium, owners or signings. Please do let us know in the comments below if you can think of anything you’d like us to discuss.
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I think he’s done a great job so far and would give him the job now. He inherited a side that had recruited and performed terribly for the past 18 months. If someone had told me we would have been 11th at this stage of the season when he first came in I would’ve laughed my head off as the confidence, shape and performance we’re completely shot.
Every decision he has made so far has been correct, he has found a formation and style which is grinding out results which vilic never did in 18 months. He diagnosed that none of our forwards had the athletic credentials to play the role as the lone striker (hernandez – lack of presence outside of the box, carroll – lack of mobility, sakho – no dedication, ayew – lack of aggression) and had the balls to do what was right for the team even if it meant dropping big names – hart, hernandez, carroll
He has adopted wing backs as none of our supposed full backs were complete enough to do the job (zabaleta – too slow and needs protection behind him, creswell – can’t tackle so give him protection to play for the second tackle if masuaka gets beat, masuaku – lacks concentration and takes too many risks so pushed him further forward).
I honestly think he has done the maximum with a bad bunch and the only reason we haven’t done better is because he doesn’t have the squad to rotate especially over christmas period and have the cover when injuries occur.
i think we’re expecting too much too soon for us to be playing expansive football. 1 we don’t have the quality in midfield to retain the ball and dominate games. 2. Arnautovic game isn’t as effective when he is deprived of space.
However, he is going the right way about it, one of the biggest cliches in football is that you build from the back, he’s sorting the defensive shape out which in the future will give us a base to play more expansive football from.
Moreover, I like his interview about his ‘selective approach’. This clearly indicates that he is thinking long-term in bringing in quality as opposed to just providing short term cheap midfield cover. There appears to be structure to our transfer policy as opposed to the last couple of seasons scatter gun approach. He has identified the primary area’s we need to improve – cdm: dendoncker, creative midfielder aside from lanzini – joao mario at a push a winger – deulefeu. Furthermore, his understanding of the deadwood and who needs to go first are clear – sakho and ayew.
He clearly is working with a very difficult board (transfer budget and PR blunders) and i question which world class manager we think we could attract in this circumstances. I think Moyes is the man for the long-term, he has stable approach and has a good overview of where we are as a club for us to build step-by-step.