West Ham United manager David Moyes has again come under some pretty fierce criticism in the 2023/24 Premier League campaign, and although there have been a number of low points across the year so far, we are still sat in seventh place in the top flight table, and preparations for our Europa League second leg Round of 16 clash with FC Freiburg continue.
There are clearly positives to the campaign, and every Hammers fan will be hoping that we progress further in Europe and slightly improve on our domestic form to end the year on a greater high, but much of that will hinge on what happens on Thursday evening, as Freiburg travel to the London Stadium with a small first leg advantage.
Following on from the poor first half performance in the game last weekend against Burnley, although we did perform better in the second half and fight back from 2-0 down to take a point on the day, inevitably it put Moyes name and his potential future at the club back to the forefront of the media’s mind. For our next match, after all the ridiculous refereeing decisions against Burnley, Moyes will be hoping for a line marking robot to be in charge, and not someone who is either biased or useless at their job.
With midfielder Tomas Soucek on press duties on Wednesday afternoon, the topic of the gaffer and the recent criticism he had faced obviously came up in questioning, but the 66 capped Czech Republic international felt that the majority of fans would acknowledge the ‘incredible’ job that he had done in his second spell at the club, although he did seem to acknowledge that those fans who do want him out right now, simply want the club to take the next step, to build on what has already been achieved.
The 29 year old stated that really Moyes over all results simply had to speak for themselves, and after ending our 43 year wait for silverware with the Europa Conference League win last season, he knew that being in European competition for three straight years running for the first time in our history was also something that should be massively applauded.
“The job he has done is incredible. I am so happy I could be part of that, to help to create history. The manager does an important job and I think he has done very well the last few years – and this year as well.”
With on loan Manchester City midfielder Kalvin Phillips being hooked at half time with yet another poor and well below par performance, Soucek also made a point of defending his team mate, insisting he was working very hard in training, but after his lack of game time at his parent club, his hard work had not yet resulted in form and performances and that he probably needed longer to get back to his true best.
Fans will have opinions of their own there.
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