Well, the Everton game is looking vital to David Moyes' future. There's no doubt he's done brilliantly for West Ham in the past, steering the club clear of relegation twice and then finishing sixth and seventh and reaching the Europas League semi-finals, as well as winning all six games in the Europa Conference this season. It's also worth noting that most of those online critics who now call him an outdated dinosaur were also praising him last season. But having said that, this bad run is massively worrying. A loss to Everton would mean one point from eight games. This season it seems other teams have rumbled Moyes' system of a deep defensive block with West Ham scoring on the break or from set-pieces, while the expensive new signings are floundering.
Ideally we will beat Everton and retain Moyes. Having allowed him to spend £160 million it makes sense to allow him time to change tactics, get his new signings firing and avoid the upheaval of a new manager wanting to change the squad yet again. There is half a season left, and if the side's luck can turn Moyes would surely have enough know-how to keep the side up.
Should we lose to Everton and fire Moyes then what are the options? Pochettino and Tuchel are out of WHU's league. Sean Dyche has the most impressive PL record of the unemployed gaffers and can certainly motivate players, though would the crowd take to his route one style and can he deal with star players? Benitez would be very defensive and Wolves' former boss Nuno Espirito Santo did well in the Midlands but was very reliant on an influx of Portuguese talent and failed at Spurs. And there's always the risk Sullivan would go for Big Sam again. Our best hope might be if Chelsea lost patience with Graham Potter.
Stick or twist, it's not going to be easy. Though in a perverse kind of way I've missed relegation struggles. We're back to the bad old days of really pepping it up and making it mediocre. Twenty five more points and we're safe!
3 comments:
Win or lose verses Everton , Westham will be relegated with Moyes He has doubled down on his boring negative tactics in the last year . Creative players are dropped if they lose the ball , consequently what we see now during fast breaks is a player passing safely backwards instead of taking a chance passing forwards . This is part of the reason Westham are scoring fewer goals . The other reason for less goals is not having Diop, Ogbonna , Dawson and Soucek together attacking dead ball situations . That great combination made space for everyone in the opponents penalty box .
We certainly miss those four together at set-pieces and think it would be a mistake to sell Dawson. Moyes has to adapt his tactics and defending all the first half away from home isn't working. And he does need to play Benrahma. But I don't think there are too many options to replace him. Next few games will decide his fate.
Loser gets the tin tack on Saturday
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