Friday, February 16

Eight things Moyes has done right at West Ham

David Moyes isn’t perfect, but he’s been a pleasant surprise since taking over from Slaven Bilic. It’s not always been attacking football and he could improve by using substitutes earlier and not running Antonio into the ground, but Moyesy has certainly done a lot of things right since arriving to mass derision on twitter. Here are eight of positives so far:

PLAYING ARNAUTOVIC AS A STRIKER
Arnie looked lost as a winger when he first arrived and wasn’t getting shots in. Moving him inside has proved inspired as he’s much more involved and able to use his physique. The tough love tactic of telling him, “if you don’t run you don’t play” has worked well too, with Arnautovic now constantly harassing defenders.

DROPPING JOE HART
After Adrian came in for the ineligible Joe Hart against Man City, sticking with the Spaniard sent a clear message that if you play well you stay in. It was a tough call as Hart needed first team football to make the World Cup, but Moyes wasn’t scared to make it. Adrian is a big character who seems to inspire the men in front of him, whereas Hart was often causing panic with a mix of great saves and rickets.

KEEPING ESTABLISHED PLAYERS ON THE BENCH
In addition to Hart, Moyes has also at times dropped Carroll, Hernandez, Ayew, Arnautovic, Noble and Antonio. The message has been that no-one can walk back into the side, however big their reputation.

GETTING THE TEAM FITTER
Extra training sessions and an emphasis on fitness have paid off. The team that lost at home to Brighton and Liverpool didn’t look fit enough for the Premier League. Now they are getting results against the likes of Chelsea and Arsenal through hard work.

PLAYING MASUAKU AS A WING BACK
After Masuaku’s cameo against Watford Moyes and his team quickly identified that Arthur could beat a man and cross. Rather than see him as a rival to Cresswell at left back Moyes deployed Masuaku as a wing back where his dribbling could trouble defences. It was all going well until Arthur’s rush of phlegm against Wigan.

PLAYING CRESSWELL AS A THIRD CENTRE BACK
Playing Masuaku as a wing back allowed Aaron Cresswell to move inside as a third centre back and he looked much more assured in this role. Even though Cressy has had to move back to left-back with Msuaku’s suspension, this was a good piece of tactical innovation.

FINING THE LATE ANTONIO
Dropping and fining Antonio for arriving late at a team meeting proved Moyes was serious. It was more dopiness than insubordination from Michail as he went to the wrong hotel, but it set a good precedent that players were responsible for organising themselves.

PRAISING THE FANS
Moyes has done well to praise the fans from his first home match against Leicester. There’s been no Allardyce-style ear-cupping. Instead he’s emphasised how much he’s enjoying life at West Ham and the similarities between East End/Essex and Glasgow’s no-nonsense culture.

2 comments:

Jackhammer said...

Very good points, Moyes has made a difference the players had switched off under Slav and didnt look like they were trying, but there is a healthy hard work ethic on the pitch now, long may it last! COYI

Pete May said...

Cheers Rob. Liked Slaven, but the players had stopped listening...