By CandH’s top blogger Allen Cummings
What can we draw from that scintillating display on Monday night – blowing away a more than useful Leicester City side to sit proudly on top of the Premier League?
Ok it’s only two games into the season and no-one is getting carried away, least of all me. But it’s clear under David Moyes West Ham have become a team high on energy, brimming with confidence, not short on ability or application, but maybe most importantly of all a team playing and working as one!
There’s a sense of togetherness in everything they do – you only have to look at the body language on the pitch and the banter off it to realise they all love playing together and being together.
There is a tremendous team spirit running right through the side, that encompasses the coaching team as well and clearly includes the manager. David Moyes is looking more relaxed and at ease than we’ve ever seen him before. He’s enjoying his football again, loving being in charge of this team – and it shows.
Spirit and camaraderie is vital for any team game. It’s not always possible of course – personalities can clash – and frequently do in football. But if everyone gets on with each other it doesn’t half make a difference to the overall performance.
here doesn’t appear to be any little cliques at West Ham right now – and that’s as much down to Moyes as the players themselves. The manager has worked as hard off the field as he has on it to ensure the team spirit at the club is better now than it has been for a very long time.
Bringing in players with the right character and right attitude to dovetail into what he already had would have been important to Moyes. Making a mistake, picking a ‘wrong-un’ who upsets the balance could be fatal, and he knows it.
With the end of the transfer window fast approaching we all want to see just who Moyes will add to his squad before deadline day. Some people seem beside themselves with anxiety pleading for signings – any signings – claiming even that is better than none.
That’s nonsense and the manager knows it. Footballing ability is one thing, and is obviously important for any new addition, but while a selection of clips on a You Tube might look impressive, it doesn’t provide the bigger picture to the background and character of the player concerned, or whether he would fit the picture being created.
Moyes clearly got it spot on with Jesse Lingard. He was the right player with the right ability and right attitude at the right time. Jesse took to his team mates in exactly the same way they took to him. He was the perfect fit and both sides reaped the benefit. The same can be said about Said Benrahma, Jarrod Bowen, Tomas Soucek, Vladimir Coufal and Craig Dawson – all looking totally at home in this side.
Moyes has insisted all along he won’t buy for the sake of it. He will have done his homework on every genuine target (and there have been plenty that have been just pure fantasy) – to be as sure as he can be the ‘fit’ will be right. The player will fit the style, fit the system and fit in with his team mates. He won’t be swayed from his principles – nor should he be – despite what’s said! Who are we to argue with the boss?
Well written article Allen and I wholeheartedly agree with all of your points. On a personal note I would like to add that for me the penny had already started to drop, but this transfer window more than any other window ever before, has opened my eyes to the nature of transfers, players & squads.
Like most supporters, I had started to become really frustrated with the lack of action on the transfer front, although I continue to maintain my trust in Moyes our best manager since the late great Johnny Lyall. After our Brilliant performance against Leicester on Monday night, my transformation was finally completed.
Us supporters have become accustomed to players being brought in simply for the sake of it to appease supporters who were baying for incoming transfers, whether the incoming players were right, wrong, or a good fit character-wise. Imagine Wilshere, Anderson and Haller still being here with the squad and the collective negative energy not to mention the lack of commitment from them? This is how I have arrived at my understanding after all these years, brought about by Moyes with his pragmatic attention to detail and unwillingness to bring players in simply for the sake of it.
I have now come to understand how a squad is built, whether or NOT players come in this window I trust Moyes 100% as what he has done to this club in such a short time is nothing short of unbelievable. When compared to other managers with their Big budgets and their scattergun approach to transfers, I’ll gladly stick with the Moyes blueprint and approach. Moyes will make history and leave a legacy at this club without a doubt.