After “Bilic’s Butlins” comes the Moyes steel

Sam Inkersole is the West Ham man for Football: London.com. ClaretandHugh invited him to give his view on the Moyes regime and what may be to come from the man who faces his former team Everton tomorrow evening at Goodison Park. 

By Sam Inkersole

One point from his first two games, improved fitness levels and a kick up the backside for the players – David Moyes is doing the right things at West Ham since his appointment.

But, lets not run before we walk. There is still plenty of room for improvement with the players who were woefully underperforming and far too comfortable under the Butlins-style reign of Slaven Bilic. The three goals conceded under Moyes’ tenure have been typical of West Ham over the past 18 months – avoidable and littered with errors.

Last Thursday, the manager was ten minutes late to his pre-match press conference ahead of the Leicester game and told the assembled reporters: “Sorry I’m late, there is quite a lot of work that needs to be done.” He’s not wrong.

Moyes knows he doesn’t have time on his side so of course he was going to say the right things, ruffle a few feathers and appease the sceptical fanbase. The man himself has a point to prove as well after his last forays into management with Manchester United, Real Sociedad and in particular, the dismal time at Sunderland.

You get the sense that Moyes has a spring back in his step, re-discovered that steely reserve after his short time out of the game. He wanted a challenge and he has certainly been given one in turning the Hammers ship around. He wants to prove he still has what it takes to succeed as a manager in the most demanding league in the world and he is at a very demanding football club to try and prove it.

Speaking of challenges, it’s Everton away on Wednesday night, when Moyes will return to his old stamping ground of 11 years and it’s a game Moyes desperately wants to win. That’s a given, he’s in a results business, but picking up three massive points against a fellow struggling club ahead of a brutal December will be enormous.

Moyes dropped Mark Noble for the Leicester game – he isn’t messing around. Angelo Ogbonna is on the chopping block, as is Pedro Obiang, you could extend that to Aaron Cresswell too. The untouchables in the squad under Bilic are no more, everyone has to fight for their place. Look at the renaissance of Marko Arnautovic, when did you have him down as a box-to-box midfielder?

Moyes said it himself on Monday to reporters, there is absolutely no room for sentiment when he walks to the dugout at Goodison Park on Wednesday night. He knows his job, he needs to get a win and ideally a clean sheet to make that midweek trek for the Hammers faithful worthwhile.

That’s what we are getting with Moyes. He knows what he needs to do and he won’t be skirting anything to make sure he is successful at doing it. It might not be pretty, it might take until the New Year to be fully effective, but you get the sense that the Scotsman will get it done.

The views expressed here are solely those of the blogger and are not necessarily shared by ClaretandHugh