He's not the Moyesiah, he's a very naughty boy

I have to admit that I wasn't that happy when David Moyes first arrived as Slaven Bilic's replacement.

The Croat had given us one fantastic season which is still strong in the memory, he'd galvanised the squad and had everyone playing for each other. The players looked happy, I liked him and I wanted him to succeed at West Ham.


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At the time I believed he was undermined with the rug being taken from underneath him, however his career as manager of other clubs might indicate [ horror of horrors ] that David Sullivan may have had a point.

Anyway , Moyes was now our manager and despite me criticising him over his win/defeat ratio, I gradually came to respect what he was achieving at West Ham. He improved Marko Arnautovic tenfold, he went from having little to no impact to being the Premier League's best striker in a time when we also had Aguero, Kane and Vardy.

The likes of Aaron Cresswell, Angelo Ogbonna and Michail Antonio improved or regained their form under Moyes while Jarrod Bowen, Pablo Fornals and Said Benrahma have come on under Moyes too.

Under Moyes' wing we were winning some games by three goals or more and things were getting so good, he earned the nickname 'the Moyesiah' - while with tongue in cheek, with a bit of truth behind it we labelled ourselves 'massive'. The Hammers got to within a whisker of a European final and qualified for another season of continental football. They were the good old days, but now is now.

So, what went wrong?

We could point to the loss of Alan Irvine and Stuart Pearce from the back room staff, or trying to incorporate eight new signings into a new season. There have been injuries to key players - how many times have Kurt Zouma and Nayef Aguerd played together? Meanwhile Maxwel Cornet has been virtually non-existent.

The team have produced a misfiring forward line and inconsistent form, while trying to implement a new system (commentators such as Alan Smith are forever reminding us we were top for goals scored from set-pieces, as if no other type of goal were scored by West Ham).

These are the type of pressures Moyes has been under this season and those that never wanted him here in the first place will use this season to beat him with. Weirdly there are West Ham sites out there whose main goal has been to remove Moyes as manager - but I get it, it's a new breed of football fan and they're after as many clicks or likes as they can garner.

Or maybe they genuinely just want what's best for West Ham, who knows?

At the end of last season, Moyes said something along the lines of that he wanted to implement a new style of play - I was calling for it too, as were others. I thought we had only one successful way of playing and that teams would eventually find us out. In all honesty, it hasn't worked.

The influential Fornals was replaced by Lucas Paqueta, Tomas Soucek found himself playing a different role, Emerson looks more suited to a five at the back while the right back position hasn't truly been claimed. Meanwhile the old problem has persisted, trying to get the best out of a new forward - in this case young Italian striker, Gianluca Scamacca.

Naturally we compare ourselves to the teams who are doing well. In the past it was Swansea (remember those days?), this season it's Brighton & Hove Albion, Fulham and Brentford - three smaller clubs doing well (thank God Bournemouth are crap).


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The truth of the matter is, there are eight clubs in the same position as us right now, almost half of the Premier League. When we were getting results, folk pointed at the way we scored goals; that 3-2 win against Liverpool definitely went against the grain in the footballing world.

Alisson Becker, the second most expensive goalkeeper in history was made to look a right numpty (as was Jurgen Klopp) and the more we won, the more we got reminded of our set piece speciality forgetting all our open play goals. Bowen to Fornals, goal! Anyway, I digress, this new style of playing - it's not as effective. So why is that, then?

When we signed Paqueta, an ever present recently in the Brazil side I thought we were signing someone with the combined skills of an Alan Devonshire and a Trevor Brooking. Yet all we've got so far are glimpses of Manuel Lanzini at his best so we could have just played Lanzini - even though I think, given time, he'll combine well with Scamacca and Danny Ings. Let's hope that time is given.

As an attacking threat, Bowen's poor early form, Benrahma's inconsistency, Antonio's age (and lack of technique) along with Scamacca being new all contributed to it being one of the least effective in the league. Yes, we were creating the odd chance but no one was scoring - not from attack, not from defence. It was looking very frustrating.

The manager who had turned Arnautovic into a Manchester United target and revived several careers was unable to find that scoring touch. Questions were asked; was it Irvine and Pearce masterminding everything all along?

Well, what I do know is even Liverpool and Chelsea have struggled this season and Tottenham look like they were managed by Sam Allardyce before he became known as Allardici. Manchester United were struggling early on and in Chelsea's case, changing manager doesn't always equate to success .

Things happen that are outside a manager's influence. They're called players. Leeds and Southampton changed managers too, only to have similar results to their predecessors.

Now I'm not advocating keeping Moyes or sacking him. Like (almost) everyone else I just want what's best for West Ham. I want to see us playing good football and winning more games than we lose and when we lose, to have played well.

However in the real world of Premier League pressure football, things aren't always that simple. The onus is to remain in the money league by hook or by crook (in this instance I'll call Moyes the hook).

This was a season when we bought eight new players in the summer, we were in a state of flux. Should we as fans understand that and give Moyes more time, or would a new manager improve our fortunes beyond all expectations? Do the board even have a plan?

If Moyes has lost the dressing room he has to go - but if he still commands the respect of the players then I say 'keep him' and see how next season pans out. Who would we replace him with?

Sullivan only knows - although at the moment, I don't think even he does.

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