Moyes – booked for Everton?

West Ham are no further forward with any plan to replace Manuel Pellegrini following the defeat at Wolverhampton Wanderers on Wednesday evening.

With three points from the last two games – two would have been enough – and two winnable games on the immediate agenda there remains a nervousness but there will be no panic replacement.

Indeed, given the shortage of quality candidates available, there is absolutely no appetite within the boardroom to find a third boss in four years.

Both David Moyes and Eddie Howe have been linked with us and Everton but whereas the board appeared split before the win at Chelsea and what might be expected from Arsenal and Southampton has given some breathing space.

No switch from China likely

Were there to be a natural candidate then the situation might be a lot different but Moyes looks a real possibility for Everton , Eddie Howe appears to be making it clear he’s going nowhere and Rafa Benitez is only a few months into his contract in China.

Director of Football Mario Husillos is continually rumoured to be on his way and how that would affect the manager should it happen can only be guessed at.

Thus the powder is being kept dry – certainly until Christmas and probably beyond.

Eddie Howe’s Bournemouth were beaten out of sight by Liverpool this afternoon and the club now sits one place above the Hammers with the same number of points and just two goals better off!

Now excuse me for saying things that some won’t want to hear or believe so can we keep the levels of abuse down LOL but just what is it with the Eddie Howe fan club given the current circumstances?

He has been a big favourite among many to take over at West Ham as patience runs out with Manuel Pellegrini although victories over the next two games could change everything.

Spurs had a new manager bounce in beating Burnley 5-0 today which presumably rules out Sean Dyche as a runner in the Hammers scenario whilst Everton beat Chelsea 3-1 which may tell us more about Marco Silva than perhaps we needed to know!

Back to Howe and my first thought is that a possible reason for the current decline- although I know little about the workings of The Cherries – is that he may perhaps have been there a little too long.

A change of club might be required but I can’t see him leaving  the club in this sort of mess unless he gets the boot which is highly unlikely.

So West Ham – were they to want him which may be debatable – look to be as far away as ever from getting him and they would have big questions to ask themselves given the relative positions of the two clubs

It’s  reasonable after all to ask whether we want to take a manager who right now is looking little better than what we’ve got?

Sadly at this point I can see no truly realistic candidates and we had better start hoping and praying that a managerial miracle is on the cards against Arsenal and Southampton.

Truth is we are fighting for our lives …along it seems with Howe’s Cherries.

COYI

West Ham will delay a decision on Michail Antonio’s involvement until Monday!

Manager Manuel Pellegrini said during  his presser ahead of the game yesterday that he would know by today (Sat) whether or not he would be be available.

However, after putting the question to a top insider earlier this afternoon, we were told that no final decision wouldo be made until the day of the match.

Fact is that the club probably know by now whether he is going to make it but obviously there is sense in ensuring that former Hammer and current Gunners boss Freddie Ljungberg  remains unaware of the situation.

We understood that Mikey had complained of a slight groin strain and eventually was ruled out of the game against Wolves.

Today our source revealed by e mail: “No decision will be made until Monday. Hopefully he’ll be ready, because we need his firepower and aggression.”

You can say that again!

COYI

Manuel Pellegrini has made it clear that he and the players fully intend to give the fans something to cheer about on Monday evening!

It’s been nothing but gloom and doom at the London Stadium who haven’t seen the team win at the London Stadium since beating Manchester United on September 22.

And after the last few desperate weeks interrupted briefly by the win at Chelsea the manager is desperate to give the fans something to cheer about.

Such is his demeanour that desperate hardly seems the right word but there can be no doubt that anything less than a win over a pretty dreadful Arsenal team is going to cause him enormous problems.

He continues to put as brave a face on things as possible but fan cynicism is now reaching peak levels and the demands for his departure could reach a crescendo should Arsenal win at the London Stadium in a game which has taken on mega proportions.

And speaking at the pre-match presser he said: “We are going to work knowing that we must do a very good game on Monday.

We must believe in this moment more than ever. We demonstrated that we can do it against Chelsea and we must try also to not concede goals from set pieces, because we are conceding too many goals that way this season, and I hope playing that way we can get three points against Arsenal.

We didn’t win the last games in front of our fans. It’s a special game also, both London teams, and I was happy in the way we played against Chelsea.

I think three points playing two games away was not bad, but of course we were not happy with the result against Wolverhampton, even though we knew before it was a difficult game. Now we must recover our good results at home.

The pressure is in every game to always try to do it better, to try to play well and to try to win the game. You don’t need to be in a bad position or be without a win in five or six games to start to feel the pressure. The pressure is always there.

We need to be confident, trusting in the way we work and play. We must have a high performance as a team, a good spirit and desire, and we try to continue working in that way every week.”

Read more at https://www.whufc.com/news/articles/2019/december/06-december/pellegrini-special-derbies-importance-home-form-and-belief#4cVqIV7DKxOvsHSV.99

Manager Eddie Howe as once again dismissed speculation that he could leave Bournemouth in the near future.

Howe told reporters at his pre-match conference “I am 100 per cent committed to this club and I am a little bit embarrassed with the speculation if I am honest after our recent run of results.

It’s all sort of come at a bad time because people will then question “has your work been affected by what’s being said outside” but I don’t read all the nonsense that flies around about it, I focus on my players and training. And that is all there is to say on it.’

The 42-year-old has been most recently linked to Everton after the sacking of Marco Silva but he denied he was interested in moving anywhere.

He has also been linked to a move to Arsenal but despite this continues to be linked to West Ham despite being downgraded by the bookies as second favourite to replace Manuel Pellegrini.

Rafael Benitez is the new bookies favourite to replace the West Ham manager by 31st May next year on odds of 5/4.

Eddie Howe has dropped down to a 2/1 option with David Moues at 5/1.

The West Ham board have agreed to back their Chilean manager for now meaning the talk of a new manager is academic as no role is vacant.

BBC pundit Mark Lawrenson predicts a West Ham 2-0 win on Monday night against Arsenal.

Lawro told his BBC website readers “Both of these teams have got problems, but Arsenal’s away form is probably the biggest issue here.

The Gunners’ defending is not getting any better either and, if West Ham turn up for this one, I think they will win.

Until Arsenal appoint a manager, it is difficult to know what direction they are going in – but it appears to be downwards at the moment.

Their chances of securing Champions League football for next season by making the top four are starting to look remote.”

Sky Sports pundit Charlie Nicholas goes the other way predicting a 1-1 draw for the Hammers at the Monday evening London derby.

He told his Sky Sports website readers “They are both struggling at the moment. Let’s go for a draw. 1-1 These are two teams in a right mess. I saw more fight from Arsenal at Norwich, but it was a disaster defensively and a crazy team selection from Freddie Ljungberg. West Ham will be up for it, as will Arsenal – they have a chance of catching up and getting back in the top six. A bit of momentum can get you there. They have class up top, but West Ham are not showing a lot at the moment.

Michael Owen agrees by saying “West Ham have not won at the London Stadium since mid-September while Arsenal have not won on the road in the Premier League since the opening weekend of the season. West Ham have won just one of their last nine in the league after their defeat at Molineux midweek, but I think they can take a point against the Gunners back at the London Stadium.”

Claret and Hugh say:

Monday night appears to be battle to prove which team is the worst Premier League team in London. Both have showed awful form to take that title. We think it will a tight game and our optimistic prediction is a narrow one-nil home win for the Hammers.

Haller – crying out for more support

Sebastien Haller has started to attract some criticism for recent performances after his bright start at the club.

He has been defended in part for the manager’s decision to play him in a one up role which of course is a more than valid point.

In a recent blog I suggested he showed a lack of touch and played little part and that maybe that’ why Maxi Gomez was Pellegrini’s preferred original option given his desire to play that way.

However,  CandH forum follower James took me to task declaring: “Let’s not go for the easy scapegoat. Haller thrived in a partnership last season, if you can’t give him that then you have to get players around him.

Rather than complain when you’re marquee signing isn’t running himself into the ground chasing lost causes,  surely the real question is why isn’t the system getting the best out of the quality that we have?

Whilst it might inspire a bit of fight now and get the fans behind you, I’d rather a functioning system than relying on one player to carry the side and criticising when the big money signings don’t .”