Tag Archives: David Moyes

Is Arteta becoming a tactical savant?

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A season ago, critics lambasted Arteta for his tactical stubbornnes, some even going so far as calling him a dictator—forgetting how that kind of breathless hyperbole only undermines one’s argument and makes one look downright foolish. While it’s true that Arteta was often guilty of relying on a very short list of players, he’s come quite a long way, as evinced by his two very different approaches to two very different opponents: Liverpool and West Ham. Hell, he’s even shown an ability to adjust formations and tactics on the fly. Let’s have a peek under the hood…

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£165 million for Rice and Caicedo? Do it, Edu…

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It seems that the brain trusts at West Ham and Brighton see the writing on the wall, and they’re willing to accept that their best players want to move to the next level. I have to admit that I feel ambivalent at best about this because I like to believe that players and fans form a relationship, and the fans especially deserve better treatment than they usually get. Each of these two clubs has experienced something historic, yet the jubilation they feel must be tempered by a feeling of loss. Still, this is the water in which we find ourselves, and one must sink or swim.

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West Ham owner all but sanctions Rice’s Arsenal move…

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Let’s trade congratulatory messages to set the right tone, shall we? Congratulations to West Ham for winning the Europa Conference League trophy, the club’s first major trophy in 43 years. Congratulations to David Moyes for winning the first major trophy of his managerial career. Congratulations to us, apparently, from West Ham owner David Sullivan for showing our class and and restraint in waiting until the Hammers finished their season before bidding for the player.

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Open Letter to Declan Ahead of his Emirates Audition…

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Hey, Dec (can I call you Dec?)—

We’ve flirted with each other, haven’t we? You were coy a year or so ago, encouraging us to go after Yves Bissouma and ultimately staying at West Ham, and why not? Moyes guided you lot to a seventh place finish, good enough to qualify for the Europa League Conference (congratulations on winning the group, by the way). However, the Prem campaign has…failed to impress. I hope this isn’t impolite to bring up, but you’re just a point from the drop-zone. That’s gotta be a more than a bit frustrating. Still, y’all have only conceded 17 goals, level with such luminaries as Liverpool and Chelsea and stingier than Man U or Tottenham. We know you’ve been a big part of that.
We also know you’re one of the youngest members of one of the oldest squads in the Prem. We know also that you must be frustrated as you watch your Three Lions mates ply their trades at bigger clubs with better chances at silverware, Europa League Conference be hanged. Last summer, we might have seen you as a competitor or even an upgrade on Thomas Partey. At the time, after all, you were playing a deeper CDM-type role, but you’ve moved to more of a box-to-box role of late. This may have something to do with the trouble West Ham have with scoring. Despite that impressive goals-conceded record, your club still has a negative goal difference.

There’s a whiff of desperation rather than strategy to the fact that you’re among the league-leaders for shot-distance (25.5 yards per shot, Dec?). Even if you’ve taken most of these shots from that deeper position, you’ve scored just the once. It might be time to rein yourself in just a little and focus on what you do best. You’re more of a defender and destroyer than you are a scorer. That works. We’re accepting applications to eventually replace Partey, not Xhaka. It’s possible that your eight-ish skills could develop over time, but what we’d be looking for is more of a 6. Then again, Moyes has you all sitting in a very deep block, whether by preference, necessity, or both, and this does push you into that deeper role. Were you to come to Arsenal, you might find yourself somewhere between those 6 and 8 roles or at least as a 6 who gets forward from time to time. 

Let’s face facts. West Ham probably peaked last season, and the competition at the top is gettting fiercer. Moyes is a good enough manager to keep this squad from getting relegated, but he’s shown time and time again that he’s not much better than that. You might fancy a return to Chelsea. With Kante out of contract in the summer, they may even come calling, but do you want to join that hot mess? You’d be another bolt-on part to an increasingly expensive jalopy that doesn’t know which direction it’s going.

The big obstacle, of course, is money. Moyes said back in March 2021 that “£150 million would be the minimum, but he is not for sale. What I do know is that it means that there are only certain clubs that could even consider it.” £150 million seems a bit steep even for a Prem-proven homegrown player of your potential, but there’s public negotiation and private concession. West Ham face a major rebuild sooner rather than later, and you’re really their most-marketable asset. I really don’t see you going for £150 million. No offense. That valuation probably reflects West Ham’s needs rather than your market value. Whoever it is that comes calling over the next few weeks or in the summer window, I foresee a fee closer to £70 million.

Just do your best on Boxing Day not to drive that fee up too high, yeah? Who knows? Maybe a January move is in the offing.

Wilshere looks ready to lay waste to West Ham. Will he? We'll see…

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Ah, West Ham. So inept. So backward. Why, they’re the dumping ground for the once-were’s and might’ve-been’s: Joe Hart. Pablo Zabaleta. Chicharito. Andy Carroll. The list goes on. David Moyes. Ah. That last one’s different. After obliging his erstwhile Everton employers with a 4-0 loss at Goodison Park, Mr. Moyes does seem to have set West Ham on a course altogther different from the one on which the Irons had previously been so thoroughly hammered. After a depressing start to the season had seen Slaven Bilić sacked, Moyes has steered West Ham to an impressive resurrection, punctuated all too recently by a 1-0 win over Chelsea on the weekend.

The weekend prior, West Ham went bravely into the Etihad and very nearly found a point, with the hosts needing a late Silva strike to capture all three. The point: these are not last year’s Hammers. Under Moyes, whether you like it or not, they are better organised defensively and, to boot, might start to threaten just a bit more offensively. While it might arouse a few chuckles to mock Carroll or Chicharito, or to exoriate Arnautovic, the harder truth is to admit that Moyes does have a few attacking options that can, on occasion, rise to the—well, to the occasion. Sorry. Painted myself into the corner just a bit there.

Long story short: underestimate this squad at your own peril. There are not many that can come so close to winning at the Etihad and follow that by winning at home over Chelsea. I daresay that, under Moyes, West Ham should very easily clamber out of relegation and might even flirt with relevance.

One need look no further than our own misadventures at the weekend at St. Mary’s, where we came uncomfortably close to going into halftime down 2-0 or even 3-0, to remind ourselves of how the once-mighty might fall. We’ve not been all that overwhelming on the road. Even if West Ham are less intimidating at their new environs than they occasionally were at the Boleyn Ground, we still have our own issues to address. Southampton more or less had their way with us for the first half an hour, and we’ll have to be better than that if we expect to find a point not to mention all three on Wednesday.

To that end, and with another fixture against Newcastle just three days after, we’ll need a bit of rotation of the sort that should invigorate rather than enervate the squad. To wit: Wilshere. He’s looked lively and occasionally influential, and if there’s a time for him to remind us all of what he’s capable of, it will be over the course of the next month or two. What better yoking could there be than of his own future at Arsenal and that of the Arsenal itself? After notching a goal and an assist against BATE Borisov, his introduction against Southampton helped to turn the tide. He’s itching for a Prem start, and it’s on Wednesday that he should get one.

LAST THREE
Arsenal 3-0 West Ham (05.04.2017)
West Ham 1-5 Arsenal (03.12.2016)
West Ham 3-3 Arsenal (09.04.2016)

FACTFILE
Arsenal have not lost in their last three trips to face West Ham.
Arsenal have scored 11 goals in their last three matches against West Ham.
Arsenal have won 12 of their last 14 matches against West Ham across all competitions.

INJURIES 
Cazorla, of course, is ruled out. So too is Ramsey. Mustafi and Walcott face late fitness tests.

POSSIBLE STARTING XI
Čech; Monreal, Koscielny, Chambers; Kolašinac, Xhaka, Wilshere, Bellerín; Sánchez, Özil; Giroud.

PREDICTION
Although Moyes might have his minions motivated, Arsenal know that they have something to prove.
West Ham 1-3 Arsenal.

Your thoughts? Can Wilshere lead the way Moyes’s Hammers, or will we once slip up yet again?