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Comments
You can’t really complain about the league position but I do feel often that the league position doesn’t match with how I’ve felt during the season. We had a nice start to the season and then really faded when Paqueta was out of form and JWP’s initial burst ended. For a long time it felt like we were muddling through but benefiting from Bowen and Kudus producing something magic to get us points. Now Paqueta is injured we are even more reliant on them.
I don’t think it’s a disaster season and I don’t want to see Moyes gone but it feels very strange. Most matches aren’t great to watch and you’re just waiting for Kudus or Bowen to do something. It’s looked even weirder since the experiments on the left wing.
We lost 5-0 to Fulham and then went on a good run. Maybe the same will happen again.
Moyes doesn't ask his players to play tactics that they can't achieve
I am sure we could be in a similar league position and play more offensive football.
To me, sticking is the low risk option for the board. I can live with that but many fans are ready to choose a higher risk if it means a more attacking style of play. It also means more chance of getting relegated imo.
In my view the is an argument for keeping him and also one for gambling on a new manager. I would like to see Moyes make the decision by ending the season really well and us keeping him, but should he fail to I would be happy with replacing him, with a great appreciation for what he has done for us.
We have four winnable matches coming up that can put us right back into the Euro places, and we then have the knockout stages of the Europa to look forward to in March, that is Moyes opportunity to earn that new contract. I couldn't be making a decision because we have had a bad patch, when first losing Kudus and then Paquetta.
Lets see what response Moyes can get from his players.
Some decent results coupled with a visible improvement in performance and he stands a real chance, anything else and I think his race is run.
For the record, my personal opinion has not changed and irrespective of the next four games I think he should leave with our thanks and his head held high at the end of the season.
The point I suppose is people don’t really care what style of football you play they just want to win games and be successful.
Just an observation.
I'm with @chicagohammer on this that the next four games will not change my mind on david Moyes leaving.
There are times when we play dull football, but I think we've played really well under Moyes a lot of the team. I love watching us counter with pace, I love the way he's let Paqueta have a free role and have fun. The link up play between Emerson and Paqueta is beautiful, as is the relationship that Coufal, Bowen and Kudus have built up. I think the way we defend - when we do it properly - is very entertaining, and I really enjoy watching them defend with blood and guts.
Obviously there are issues in the way we play, and obviously things aren't perfect. IMO, we have too many players in midfield that aren't good creative passers (Soucek, Ward-Prowse, Alvarez (though his job is different)) and we have a tendency to give the ball away far too easily (Soucek, Zouma, Coufal). There is also an issue with a lack of trust in depth options, and a lack of proactivity in changing things during games.
That said, if I have the option to watch pretty football like we saw under Bilic, Zola or Pellegrini, or watch up finish in the top 8 and challenge for European places under Moyes, I think that's a really easy choice, and I'm not twisting.
Talk about rose tinted glasses. What you are romanticising about is something that has been few and far this season and not a lot last season when we were only safe from relegation with only a few games to go.
These results happen. You dust yourself down & get on with it. The last two games should not justify his future here. His achievements for us are unchallenged by any other West Ham manager since the PL began.
Why we judge success by our style of play I have no idea. I’ve never seen us play consistently as well as we do now. Of course there are shocking performances in there, like every club has, but the overall pattern is positive & has been for four years.
We were pretty awful in the PL last season, and, tbh, our results have been better than our (often horrible) on-field performances deserved a number of times this season (both Chelsea and Spurs shoulda been out of sight before we somehow won, and two late goals helped us steal a win against lowly Burnley).
So, certainly for the last 2 years (we fell away at the end of the 21/22 season) I think it's a stretch to say that "the overall pattern of our performances has been positive".
However, the style of football is more negative than positive, very predictable and often dull.
"We scored 3 goals!"
"But we lost 4-3"
"But we scored 3 goals!!!"
Under Greenwood we had 4 top half finishes in 13 seasons (and that was when the First Division had 22 teams) 6th, 8th twice and 9th. Our average finish was 13th (12.77)
In the Cup we only got past the 5th round twice, QF v Liverpool 1963, winners1964, we got knocked out by lower league teams six times and by teams that were relegated from the First Division the same season four times
In his last season 1973/74 we were in the relegation zone from end of September until middle of January, we didn't win until 20th October, we got knocked out of the FA Cup in the 3rd round by 3rd Division Hereford. we never got above 14th, we managed 8 clean sheets in 46 matches and avoided relegation by one point,
No wonder they "promoted" him to General Manager!