By Hughie Southon
Let’s be totally honest – the body language hasn’t been good among the players this season but slowly one big reason may be emerging as to why the Hammers squad is struggling.
From what one hears on and off the record that the spirit among some of the guys really isn’t what it was this time last season and for all I have had to say on the subject that is not all down to the manager.
Mikey Antonio as the first example has made it clear he is not happy with being second choice and is now being linked with Wolves.
The Hammers have told us that can’t happen unless or until a new striker is found but the No 9 is clearly an unhappy bunny and as a long time servant and senior dressing room pro that really isn’t great .
It’s clear too in the second example that Vladimir Coufal is suffering the same problem. He wants more minutes and has said so. He goes on to add that it WILL be sorted.
And then there’s Daws who is desperate to get away up north for personal reasons and may not be able to which will lead to some anguish.
Other players have lost form and given there are problems among one of two of then that’s going to be a tough call for Moyes to sort.
If he does so and results start to go his way he will be due a round of applause as the fabulous sopirit of last season is restored.
The problems are down to the manager, in the article you mention things like players out of form, if a player is out of form for any period of time you stop picking them, Moyes has continually picked Kehrer, Soucek, and Bowen despite their form, which is not the players fault and by continually picking them it has affected the overall team performance, it is the manager who has consistently over time not made the tough calls (btw I don’t see them as tough decisions). If he picks the 3 of them in the team again at the weekend we will be in the bottom 3 and he will deserved to get what is coming to him (long overdue). I said it at the start of the world cup he had to go then as nothing would change and so it has been proved. When players see good players been taking off and poor players being left on the pitch then it will naturally affect players confidence and performance, a prime example of this was against Leeds 2-1 up he withdraws Coufal, Fornals, and then he takes off Paqueta and Scamacca. He leaves players like Kehrer on the pitch and brings in players like Cresswell and Antonio. Both have been great for the club but in particular Antonio offers you nothing any more. Who makes these decisions is Moyes and as a result team and individual performances drop on the pitch. Who is to blame the manager, Moyes does not go for the win, he is too negative holding on for the win, I have seen Moyes manage for years and this is exactly how he works. He does not make changes unless he has too and often it is too late e.g. he generally does not take a player off who is performing poorly until we go 1 down. So for me there is only one person to blame for where we are and it is Moyes. For me D Day has arrived this weekend where the excuses need to stop, lose we are in the bottom 3 and there is only one decision for the board to make. At this stage I would accept Nevin being given a chance in a caretaker capacity as long as he demonstrates an attack minded philosophy and positive approach to team selections and changes mid game, but some change has to happen if we lose at the weekend. Moyes is holding the team back in a way that is spiralling us to relegation. Finally I watched Southampton last night against City, they were excellent, I would not be confident of beating any of the bottom 3 while Moyes is still in charge.