David Moyes has remained at the top of the Hammers agenda for another 24 hours after the defeat by Blackburn Rovers – this time after the team had come from behind to lead for at 88 minutes before losing 10-9 on penalties.
Among the arguments presented for defeat – or at least its acceptance – is that it really doesn’t matter because penalty shoot outs are a lottery and that the Carabao Cup is the lowest tournament on football’s domestic agenda anyway.
The emotional language being thrown around about the manager is all fairly pointless and merely reflects different points of view on his abilities.
Thats ok but it’s probably stats are surely the only way to come to any sort of conclusion and whether what we are currently seeing is acceptable.
The facts are that with several new summer signings involved we have won four games – Villa away, Wolves at home, Fulham and Bournemouth also at home.
The draws have come against Spurs and Southampton and the eight defeats to Man City, Nottingham Forest, Brighton, Chelsea, Everton Liverpool, Man United and Palace.
But as we stated earlier this isn’t a new problem which has arisen this year as the wheels were falling off long before the end of the season the last 11 games producing wins only against Wolves, Everton, Villa and eventually relegated Norwich City.
Among the defeats were those against Liverpool, Spurs, Brentford, Chelsea, Arsenal and Brighton.
Forget the hard luck stories – VAR etc. Every club has the same problems with which to cope.
It’s make your mind up time. Are we progressing or regressing?
The floor is yours on the facts rather than the emotions.
Yes your analysis is a concern but against that there are some mitigating factors. Our best new signings, Paqueta, Aguerd and Cornet have hardly played due to injuries and the others have had no pre season prep. We have had games where penalty misses and the Chelsea VAR debacle have cost points and I suspect confidence. I find it really strange we are being very ponderous mainly in first half of games. In past two seasons this has not been a serious issue as our goals scored numbers are up with top six.
My other worry is the clamour from some for David Moyes to be sacked is not matched by any thoughts on who would replace him. 25% of Premier league managers have been sacked this season and a couple of others are also under pressure. The available talent pool of managers is on my view non existent.
Pochinetto and Tuchel do get mentioned but have indicated they will only consider clubs established in Champions league
Hugh, I don’t think there could be much argument about our team status. We are definitely regressing. Your summary certainly helps to put it in perspective too.
The fans certainly do not enjoy watching our playing style at the moment, either. It’s kind of weak and gutless. There’s no sense of us having a go until it’s all too late. And then we can’t seem to shoot our way out of a wet paper bag! It’s all very gut wrenching after the euphoria of the early part of David Moyes leadership.
Many of us are bewildered as to why it’s all gone so horribly wrong. Moyes seems to have gone from being a half glass full type of guy to a half glass empty one in the blink of an eye. I would be ecstatic if we beat Leicester on Saturday but now I too am turning into a half glass empty type of guy! However I will still cheer for any old Irons that Moyes throws into the fire. COYI!