David Moyes was very quickly on the scene for a post match presser and was as straightforward as one would expect because there was little else he could say but not good.
His “we weren’t good enough on the day” statements and “they were better than us” in previous games is demonstrating that any manager bounce we hoped to enjoy is evaporating as quickly as our optimism of anything emerging from this utterly appalling season.
To be honest it begins to look like the one he suffered at Sunderland when he arrived at the Stadium of Light with the club on its way down under an owner who didn’t want to spend money on finding new players.
There’s a week left for that to be proved wrong but Moyes’ comments after the match on the possibilities between now and the window closing were particularly worrying.
One way or the other the day of reckoning is fast approaching and if he and the board don’t act it will be impossible and wrong to defend them.
In the meantime Moyes is having to explain performances which are light years away from any form of acceptability and here’s what he had to say at https://www.whufc.com/news/articles/2020/january/25-january/david-moyes-reacts-west-brom-defeat.
On the result…
“I’m disappointed we’re out of the Cup. I wouldn’t say we did all we could, but we tried to do what we could to get through, and unfortunately we weren’t good enough on the day.”
On West Ham’s difficulties creating shooting opportunities…
“Sometimes that can be taken the wrong way. I think we worked hard to try and get into positions but West Brom defended really well.
“We need to get more shots on target and attempt to get more away, but we just couldn’t find a way through at times, especially late on in the second half.”
On the three substitutions he made at half-time…
“We passed the ball away, we kicked it out the pitch, we couldn’t play, we never really had any attacks. We gave up too many opportunities, I felt, to West Brom in the first half.
“There were too many things I didn’t like and I felt that if we were going to have the chance of getting through or getting a draw then I might as well make the changes then.”
On Mark Noble’s injury-time chance…
“I have to say that it’s amazing it’s [fallen to] Mark Noble, that we haven’t got other people free, or big opportunities to the forward players we had on the pitch.
“We started with two strikers, and in the second half we played with three front players, so overall it was disappointing we didn’t do more.”
On the prospect of bringing players in during the transfer window…
“It’s important, but it’s only important if you get the right ones. You can bring people in who can give you a name, but more importantly if you don’t get the right ones for the [right] positions then sometimes you’re better not having anybody.
“We’ve played with what we have in the squad today but we used every player available to us, so we could do with adding if it’s right – but again, only if it is right.”
On the rest of the season ahead…
“We were in the bottom three when I took over in my first game, so we know the difficult task we’ve got ahead, but we now know that we’re focusing on the Premier League.
“I’m disappointed for the supporters that I couldn’t give them a better Cup run. I thought this game today gave us an opportunity to get through at home. We went relatively strong with our team but our performance today didn’t merit it.”
We are in serious trouble we look like a doomed team devoid of ideas and confidence
If we go down with no Upton Park I’ll be amaze if we get 20k a week attendances
Unless they buy at least two players a right back & a good midfielder then we will be relegated. Surely when Moyes took the job he would have had a list a players who he Thought we’re good enough, if not why not, unless Sullivan will not spend the money all this talk of getting the right players could be a smokescreen to disguise that fact
Well said Claret.We have known all season that a Quality midfielder,right back,striker and some would say left back were needed so surely he must have known or been promised investment to avoid the drop.Not quite able to grasp the owners thought processes here.They seem unwilling to invest in case we get relegated but cannot grasp the gravity of relegation in terms of the huge instant loss in revenue.Like a drunk swaying at the black jack table at Monte Carlo deciding whether to stick or twist.
How can 8t possibly be better than you have nobody over anybody?
So you’re just going to play with no right back if zabaleta gets injured after playing 5 games in 13 days?
Or if we lose rice to injury as he’s basically our entire midfield for the 25th game in a row, you’ll just not play anyone at all?
Wasnt that the same things said against Leicester..
We are relegated, 100 % nailed on, unless we make the right signings this week. You really have to wonder how the club sanctioned the signings of players like Hugill and Ajeti who subsequently barely feature and, for all to see are clearly not PL standard. They must be punts we hope will come good. The club then collectively dithers when it comes to addressing the real lack of quality in our squad. We have some talented players but as a team we are easily the worst in the division at the moment.
Now is the time to go out and make some sensible signings we have been screaming out for for seasons now, but we’ll not hold our breath, we’ve been here too many times to know different. Mr Sullivan I hope you understand what relegation will mean for this club.
They need to spend and some in this last week of the transfer window or this club WILL be relegated.Then they will have a real white elephant of a stadium which will at best have the 20 to 25 thousand max we had at the Boleyn.Bradford ,Bolton,Sunderland are just 3 that built premiership stadia and now rattle about in stadiums a 1/3 full after plunging down the leagues from the premiership because of poor investment in their most precious commodity ie the team.
All too little too late,I’m afraid.How are you going to bring someone in and expect them to make a difference to this utter shower.Moyes is just another fall guy to a club thats whole infrastructure is GSB operating a revolving door with more emphasis on fall guys than competence,organisation and forward planning – You get what you deserve in this world and we are being run by porn men and property developers who wont listen or correct their mistakes,imo
We have players out on loan who are better than this crew. Let out ahead of relegation so they have EFL experience?
Not sure that Ajeti is not good enough given his limited game time.His record suggested that he could be a decent back up striker.
Hughill was a much stranger buy.
He has to be one of the most ridiculous appointments in the history of the club and it willend up costing us our PL status.
Hardly Moyes’ fault. He has inherited an absolute mess and has little time and no support to try it sort it out
Michael, his team selection have been dire, his decisions in games has been dire. If there was anything about him he would not have played a player like Sanchez yesterday. He is a negative manager always has been and always will be, and in our case that is the last thing we need. I agree he has inherited a mess but he has been very poor. I am just hoping he will sign well this week and we may have a chance. As for the board I have supported them and this is the first time I have been so frustrated by their running of the club.
Before Senor Pellegrini was hired all of the armchair experts were saying that we ought to hire a world class manager and team and let them do the recruitment. Turned out well didn’t it. We now have two strikers that we paid around fifty million for, neither of whom could find the goal if it was tied to them and worth about tuppence on the open market. So now we want the board to go and buy some players in the winter window which is always challenge. Do we want the board buying the players or not? The folk that organise protests really should make their minds up.
In a proper club the players are bought by the Director of Football with a strong recommendation fron the scouting team, who will have been tracking certain potential players for months (or even years). The Manager generally asks for players with certain characteristics for certain positions, but he is not the person to pick and choose a specific name.
At West Ham we don’t have a decent, long term, Director of Football, and the scouting team seems pretty clueless. We also don’t have a long term 5 year plan and seem to make it up as we go along.
I agree what ever plan they had is right out the window and now plan b has just followed behind. They honestly though well spend 100m on Pellegrini first proper window keep fans on side, limit it in the next window saying we have strength in deep. Fabianski gets injured Roberto (out strength in depth) comes in and everything falls apart and KB comes out with a comment like we dont know why it’s not worked.
Wrong type of players you have to have class or hunger we have neither at present.
Haller started very well and despite poor recent form (along with much of the team) has scored just one goal less,with almost four months of the season left, than Arnie did in the whole of last season.
Heard it ALL before. Liverpool or Man City might talk about getting the RIGHT bodies in, within this window……
But when you leave it as Late as we have done, to do something about a problem that has been as apparent as ours have been… You WILL need to Pay for Those Bodies.
I can understand Moyes talking things up and not digging anyone out in particular…. But the situation we are in right now IS Desperate and Extreme. We are currently in BIG TROUBLE!
Sullivan in particular needs to buy what we need not dog around in bargain basement . It’s shockimg that he can’t see we need the right players and messes about in the market offering peanuts when the players are worth more than he offered. The layers we have also need to show more ,end of.
Mark it is there for all to see that we are barely Championship standard.Years of penny pinching has come home to roost.The spotlight surely must be on the owners and the board.
Passionless display from a team on its last legs.Supported Westham for 45 years and I can honestly say these gutless wonders don’t know what it means to wear the great shirt. We’ve got players running round like headless chickens, Moyes + a bunch of owners who think we can stay up without spending. 2 bob from top to bottom.
Spot on
Nothing to add.
The Players all to often play with injuries, due to much football in to few days. We need more players and we need them now. Two players would be a surprise, as I cannot see the Board putting their hands in their pockets, but in reality, I think four would be better. Some of the Players have simply had it, they come back half injured to cover, but they are not fit. I am wasting my time I know, but. Please, Please, Please, if you are
out there Board please listen and buy Players and not Friday, but tomorrow.
Totally shambolic performance against a team who made 8 changes and down to 10 men after their sending off. Sanchez and Balbuena pathetic and neither should ever wear the shirt again. For Moyes to admit he would have subbed 5 of them at half time and this was the best team he could put out is deeply worrying. Out of the cup without a whimper and with our upcoming games I can’t see us escaping relegation and a long period in the Championship. Financially it would be a disaster losing most of the TV money after parachute period ends and huge numbers of Season Ticket sales being cancelled. This is the reality which our beloved Club faces. We are a mIllion miles away from “attracting world class players in a world class stadium” Moyes should never have been brought back and players should hang their heads in shame after such a pathetic performance. We need new signings desperately but no decent player would come if they risked being relegated in a few months.
Birmingham sound familiar Ken?
Love this from the guardian match report
“Pacing around his technical area, Bilic must have been relieved that the groans floating down from the stands for much of the first half were no longer his problem.”
Conceding a goal against a good WBA team isn’t terrible. But failing to create anything when all the previous manager did was buy attacking players?! And they’ve all been awful too. You can’t really blame Moyes for the lack of signings either, it must be virtually impossible to attract signings when we’re so rubbish and definitely playing in the champ next season
Begs the question “does Moyes have a hidden agenda that because he saved GSB on his last stint here, its payback time and I’ll take em down this time?” Or better still does anyone think, that teams in the lower leagues attract more investors to buy a club in the lower league than that of being in the premier league?? And we seem to be heading that way and that might suit a club that wants to be sold ? Only my conspiracy theory is suddenly looking that way? Because GSB and Moyes seem to me complicit in the massive co#k up that seems to be going on the pitch with Moyes team selection and tactics? And lack of transfer business by GSB Off the pitch at the moment? Oh And the squad we have? Most other bloggers have covered that mess already?? Does Beg the question for me though?
What’s really worrying me is the likes of Norwich are putting up a fight and can have shock results, we’re awful.
Those players didn’t want to get through to the next round of the cup. They know where their breads buttered and it’s in the premier league. Not saying they threw the game exactly, but they didn’t particularly want to win it and if I’m honest, neither did I. Yes I’m happy that we’re out of the cup because we could really do without a cup run and potential replay only to get knocked out by a city or a Liverpool in the later stages. Premier league survival is where it’s at for me.
We now know the size of the problem facing us. Why was Slav not a success with us in his last season? For me the worst result yesterday would have been a draw and a replay (which we would probably have lost away). Now I’m dreaming of a draw vs Liverpool and victory against Brighton. I think now Moyes has learned that Sanchez can’t perform at the required level – and hopefully brings in a central midfielder and given our current situation even a loan would do
The other problem that yesterday exposed was a lack of pace – the system required fullbacks who could really bomb forward – the admirable Zaba and Cresswell are not the answer to that
Well they say that the darkest hour comes just before the dawn …
It’s bloody dark here this morning, Zahama, and the dawn is Klopp-shaped. Yesterday was very disappointing – again. I am sure that none of us were surprised that Sanchez showed absolutely nothing and that we possessed little pace throughout, so I think it would be confirmatory for Moyes, rather than a revelation. I have been very disappointed that Balbuena has regressed so far from last season – he’s a shadow of the player he was last year. Noble, Ogbonna and Antonio improved things after HT and Randolph has looked OK since his return, but that’s about it.
The clear-out of the sick, the lame and the not bothered will have to happen in the summer, irrespective of which division we are in. The current likely value of most of the squad is negligible, compared to its purchase price, so it shows 2 things: the folly of our investment policy and lack of a coherent football structure over the last 5 years; and the advantage in ‘growing our own’ top talent – and then trying to use it, rather than loan it out and/or sell it. Take out the TV money and our current business model looks unsustainable to progress as a Premiership club. Bradford, Bolton and Sunderland beckon, as someone else mentioned this week. Weirdly, I am still optimistic for the rest of the season but it’s a bit like valuing the last few weeks with an old friend who time is nearly up – the pain has already passed. I can’t get upset by the failure of club owners to fulfill their promises/aspirations (delete as takes your fancy) – most of us have seen it all before. I’ll always support the manager and our team … because it’s our team, even though we are a bit crap. We live in hope, rather than expectation. COYI
I cannot watch this team anymore. Will buy season tickets, in the middle, lower sections for a couple of hundred quid. In 2022. EFL Championship, middle of the pack.
Hope the sun shines.
I can honestly say I give up! It’s to much of a health risk and a Mental health risk supporting this club. It’s hard I’ve supported them for over 25 years. It makes me depressed as I love football but the Owners have killed my passion.
Good luck for the future lads
You won’t give up benny.You might say you will but when it is in your blood you can’t.
Pacific, the Cat, Mark Wiggins-spot on.
Even a few panic buys cannot change things now. It really will take a miracle. It is possible even with the so called FFP rules to spend your way out of the Championship – several have done it recently -but you have to have the money & be willing to spend it. So I think this won’t be a one season break.
Not worth bringing up all the failings at the top again now, but that is where my finger is pointing. After all the things that were in their favour & came to nothing these owners will get only one trophy- the worst PL owners.
I remember my Uncle warning me when the 2 David’s took over at West Ham because of what they had done at Birmingham City. How right he was. Sickens me to read how they think they can look at last 10 years with pride. What exactly have they achieved? Ripped the heart out of the club by moving to an athletics stadium on the basis if would take the club to the next level. No short-term, medium-term or long-term plans and they have the cheek to call themselves fans and business men. Stand up David Sullivan and David Gold and accept you both don’t have a clue. Sadly, like all West Ham fans, I’ll continue to suffer whist the clueless muppets carrying on destroying the club
I’m done. Like most I’m exhausted and fed up of watching this. We should have turned a corner after a few years at this stadium.
We have no direction, the players are so out of form. Lanzini has never recovered from injury. Antonio used to come in for some unfair criticism and now he’s our talisman. Noble and Antonio only players playing for the shirt.
I got a season ticket for the cricket this summer. Can’t wait…… beer, sunshine, no negativeness and players that give a **** for the cause.