Cards on table time. I wasn't overjoyed when we appointed Moyes on either occasion. I was also one of the fairly big number who thought Pellegrini was a great choice and represented an opportunity to make progress. In typical West Ham fashion, you know the words of the dirge, dreams fading and dying, the Pellegrini appointment, after a promising first season went tits up and the usual relegation scrap beckoned.
So in came Motes for the second time. And I have to say that. after just over a year into his second coming, I am very impressed by what he has achieved so far. He has recruited well. Coufal is , imo, in terms of value for money,. one of the best pieces of business the club has ever done, Soucek has become a key component in the team, as has Bowen. Even Dawson, who was probably intended to be one of those "only to be used in an emergency" loan signings has performed very creditably in the games he has played in, gaining 2 MOTM nominations (yes I know) from the watching punditry. The only player who has come in under Moyes about whom there are still doubts, at least for me, is Benrahma, although even he had, again only imo, his best game for us yesterday so hopefully he might, in time, show he can make the transition to the PL. And of course there are some who believe maybe Benrahma was a dwarfism, rather than a Moyes driven move.
On the field it's clear the players have bought into the style of play Moyes wants us to play. We have only been beaten heavily once, 3-0 by Chelsea, and although I didn't buy into the "we wuz robbed" arguments some put forward I didn't think by any stretch it was a scoreline that reflected the game accurately. We lost to a very late goal at Anfield, should have probably beaten Man United based on our first half domination, gained a creditable point against Man City and totally outclassed, out thought and outscored Leicester. And that little lot are currently sitting very near to the top of the table, as are Everton, another team we have beaten so far.
Of course Moyes isn't perfect and of course he makes decsions some of us wouldn't. My biggest criticism is that he isn't ruthless enough with the deadwood. I would like to see the likes of Ashby and anyone else who has been identified as having potential given the bench places currently occupied by the likes of Fredericks and Noble. Noble simply isn't good enough any more and Fredericks never has been. So why keep trundling them out ? I don't think the kids could be any worse, even if they don't make an immediate impact.
Moyes' style of football has been criticised and no one can begin to explain, I imagine including Moyes himself, the inexplicable team selection against Brighton. But that game apart when we have been poor we have, at least, shown some bottle and got results from games where maybe we didn't deserve them on performance. I love watching Manchester City but even they in some of their recent matches, the last one being Brighton, are sometimes a very difficult team to watch when things don't quite kick into place. The point being that even the best sometimes fail to turn on the style.
But at the end of the day we have to ask one key question. For those who would like to see the back of Moyes who, realistically, would they like to see replace him who they feel could do a better job. Imo some of our fans have begun to sound like the Essex branch of the Spurs supporters club. We should be playing "attractive" football, whatever the fuck that is. There should be more emphasis on attack, and so on. Ok we'd all like to see 3 or 4 goals banged in every match but, at least for me, a 1-0 win like yesterday is preferable any day of the week to an end to end 3-3. And in any case we have seen three "goalfests" haven't we? Spurs and Leicester away and Wolves at our gaff weren't too shabby, were they ?
So I'm prepared to hold ny hands up and say I may have got it wrong about Moyes. I don't expect us to play like Manchester City or the great Barcelona side of a few years back. I might raise my expectation levels if we signed a deBruyne or an Aguerro, or suddenly unearthed the next Iniesta or Messi from our academy but until we do that which, let's face it, ain't going to happen I'm content to enjoy this season for what it is and see where it takes us. I don't want to have someone whispering in my ear after Moyes has been hounded out that I should have been careful what I wished for.
