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With the World Cup well underway the owners have appeared to have kept their faith in David Moyes for now. West Ham have ended there first 15 games with 14 points just 1 point above the relegation zone. They even ended before the World Cup break with 3 home defeats in the space of a week a worrying stat for any West Ham fan.
Alex Kral Revelations
Moyes’s man management has been criticised especially after an interview with Alex Kral has come to light. Speaking to Capital Football he said “Really fast I recognised I won’t play in too many games, so I worked on my weaknesses in each training” he continued saying“Moyes didn’t speak much with me, he was detached, I only spoke to him one time when I went to him, asking him what I needed to improve to play, at a time when Rice and Tomas were out of the game”. The Czech international went on “But something was off because if I had been doing everything right I’d be playing, no? “So, I tried to speak like this with him, I didn’t go and ask: ‘Why am I not playing?, But he kept saying that I needed to wait for my chance, the rest was between him and me.” “I kept training hard, apart from one week when I had Coronavirus, I was never injured, I was ready”. “Sadly, there wasn’t much communication, but he wasn’t like that just to me. It’s just the way Moyes is and I don’t take it personally”. It’s clear that the Czech international wasn’t given enough of a chance to prove himself he made 13 appearances in all competitions with a total of 256 minutes and just 1 of those was in the Premier League. Not every signing works out but Alex Kral’s account of his time at West Ham highlights an issue where if players fall out of favour with him then it’s almost impossible to get back into the team.
Poor Tactics
It’s clear Moyes has his favourites in the team and has his favourite system in a 4-2-3-1 formation He consistently playing players who aren’t the same as they used to be like Cresswell, Coufal, Soucek and Fornals. When they have the likes of Cornet who has impressed in various performances in Europe this season and offers a bit more flair than Fornals. Ben Johnson and Emerson Palmieri have had a lack of time on the pitch as well and offer a replacement for Coufal and Cresswell who’s crosses in the box and bursts done the flanks have been sorely missed this season. Downes has put in some very talented performances who’s passing and tackling skills have proved he has a lot of potential and should be offered a regular starting spot over Soucek. A lot of the time last season the team didn’t have the depth to their squad that they needed and that proved detrimental to there league form but now they have some of those players he should be benching players when they aren’t playing well. The club have the depth they need but it’s up to Moyes to take advantage of it.
Are we being too harsh?
When Moyes took over in December 2019 we were 17th in the table and just 1 point of the relegation zone he guided us to safety finishing 16th five points clear of the relegation zone. Success came in extraordinary fashion the following season guiding us to 5th place finish only finish 2 points off qualifying for the Champions League. The following season we achieved a 7th place finish the and a heart-breaking Europa league quarter final defeat to Eintracht Frankfurt. He provided us with some many brilliant memories in Europe most notably a 2-0 home win over 5 time champions Sevilla and a thumping 3-0 away win against Lyon. The memories and success he has provided for us can only bide him a certain amount of time. If things don’t pick up soon then we might have no option other than to look for a replacement. There is no magic formula in relation to sacking or keeping managers to achieving success. A relegation battle would be a nightmare given the last two seasons we’ve had.
Verdict
It’s clear that the owners want to hold back on sacking Moyes he has achieved so much in the just under 3 years. There is no magic formula for how long you should keep a manager in the job if things start going wrong. The world cup has provided a break for most of the squad and some key players, most of them will come back fresh and fit and hopefully start performing. If our form doesn’t pick up by the start of February I think he should be sacked. If he manages to achieve a mid table/ top half finish and get to at least the semi finals of the Europa Conference League he should continue as manager.