David Moyes, It’s Not Your Fault

A lot of what I say here will not be Good Will Hunting references, but it will largely be speculative. For that, I apologize, however I will try to support what my beliefs are on David Moyes and his future at West Ham with real examples.

If these Moyes out polls were a month ago, they wouldn’t be as bad.

Maybe this is a little too easy to see but lets time travel back to December when West Ham put up a string of great performances including a Stoke win, Chelsea win, Arsenal draw, and close loss to Manchester City. West Ham would then string together six league games from December 26^th to February 3^rd where they would at least pick up a point. The damage was massive that West Ham had sustained this season, but after these two stretches of games the team looked like they had turned a corner.

The polls were out at this time in the season, albeit with less ill intent on Moyes, and people were happy. The FA Cup debacle kind of soured some supporters, but the focus on fitness and structure had people happy about West Ham and taking back their works on Moyes’ appointment.

He has since floundered, and with the arm chair managers slating him for player use, it seems that Moyes’ future at West Ham may have been stipulated on a lot less than what the supporters would have wanted.

The low bar

After that formidable run of games supporters with myself included were looking at and worrying about oppositions above them in the table, rather than praying that teams below drop points.

With Chicharito seemingly prohibited from starting for West Ham, and the likes of Josh Cullen, Jordan Hugill, and Andy Carroll beside him, Moyes is clearly looking towards who will be on his squad next year. And yes, I did say HIS.

And therein lies the problem. I believe David Moyes was promised the job of West Ham manager next season if he keeps the team afloat and alive in the Premier League. No real bar to meet other than the one separating 17^th and 18^th for the Scotsman, and with no bar comes pickiness in team selection.

For Moyes, he did a solid job at reorganizing the team and getting them in form for Premier League games from December to February. He bounced back from adversity after a bad loss to Everton, and he again has bounced back in the match following the Burnley defeat at home, delivering a 3-0 win against Southampton. The points he gathered was rather unexpected, and despite still being in relegation danger, said points have allowed Moyes to get picky with his selections.

With his plans in place for next season, and likely to receive a sizable budget for the transfer market, Moyes is removing the pieces from teams’ selection that he doesn’t see a future with. CM and CB are the only exclusion simply due to necessity.

With prices inflated in January, Moyes will likely target the same players he was rumoured to a few months ago in the summer months. Cairney, Arter, Arfield. British players who can thrive in a system. Hopefully the budget doesn’t get spent on the likes of Joao Mario, however I suppose we will have to wait and see.

The Outlook

A long term, or at least two-year deal, is the likely outcome at this point. And, despite the hatred for him right now I don’t believe that would be a death sentence for West Ham. In his longest tenured job at Everton he was a remarkable manager, failed trips to Manchester, Sunderland, and Real Sociedad all proved unfruitful, but as one would assume.

If Moyes get financially backed, control of transfers, and with those the ability to bring in a squad of platers he can maximize potential for he will perform as West Ham’s manager. The only problem as it stands now is the possible threat of relegation. Should West Ham survive it is not doom and gloom on the horizon is West Ham keep Moyes, despite what the make-belief twitter pundits will preach.

Written By Adam Smith