David Moyes has done excellent work, and West Ham would need a compelling argument not to award him a new contract. All they have to do to doubt themselves is consider how the Scot’s first stint at the London Stadium concluded. West Ham chose the glitzy route rather than accepting Moyes’ offer of stability. following giving the Chilean manager Manuel Pellegrini a massive budget and appointing him, they fired him when his team faced relegation following eighteen months of inconsistency. Not every time is the grass greener.
In Pellegrini’s place, Moyes came back, kept West Ham in the Premier League, and established a steadfast team identity. For the first time since 2006, he brought European football to east London with finishes of sixth and seventh.
Not every journey has been easy. Despite their progress to the final four of the Europa League, West Ham’s league performance declined in 2022, and Moyes’s job was seriously jeopardized. Had West Ham lost to Fulham in April of last year, he would have been fired. A lot of supporters had had enough. Some people find Moyes’s practical attitude to be unappealing and will criticize him at any opportunity. There is more than a hint of ingratitude that outsiders notice.
West Ham won their first championship in forty-three years under Moyes’ leadership. When Jarrod Bowen scored the game-winning goal against Fiorentina in the Europa Conference League final last June, he dashed down the touchline in Prague. Is it now appropriate to construct the statue? Not exactly. Talk of friction between Moyes and Tim Steidten, West Ham’s new head of recruitment, dominated the summer of last year.
In light of this, it should come as no surprise that, up until a few weeks ago, the consensus was that West Ham would allow Moyes to leave when his contract expired at the end of the current campaign. Many wanted Steidten, who had been at Bayer Leverkusen, to search Europe for the next Roberto De Zerbi.
However, Moyes has recently advanced West Ham to the Europa League round of 16. Since trading Declan Rice to Arsenal in the summer of last year, they have not stopped playing. Edson Álvarez, Mohammed Kudus, Konstantinos Mavropanos, and James Ward-Prowse have all joined to help them rebuild. They come into their home match against Brighton on Tuesday in sixth place, having defeated Manchester United and Arsenal 2-0 in their previous games. It seems sense that when negotiations over a contract take place this month, they will be ready to extend Moyes’ contract by 2.5 years.
It is not finalized yet. Moyes may be excused for questioning whether he wants to endure two more seasons of fans criticizing him excessively after West Ham lost 5-1 to Liverpool in the Carabao Cup quarterfinals. Less than a month has passed since his team’s 5-0 loss against Fulham. There are moments when West Ham’s offensive looks stuttering.
But there is more than one way to play. When West Ham won at Arsenal last week it was impossible not to marvel at their defensive brilliance. Not every manager has to obsess over passing statistics. This season West Ham have beaten Chelsea, Tottenham, Brighton and Arsenal despite having under 30% possession. To some of Moyes’s critics, those wins are just freak occurrences. As if it is possible to pull them off without motivated players carrying out a good and experienced manager’s clever tactical plan.
West Ham make a lot out of a little. While Ward-Prowse’s set pieces are a big part of the plan, they are not a route-one team. They can be devastating on the break and have flair. Lucas Paquetá is one of the best players in the league. Bowen has been outstanding since moving up front. Kudus, whose goals and dribbling will be missed while he is with Ghana at the Africa Cup of Nations, looks like a bargain at £38m from Ajax.
Naturally, there will be a tendency to assign such skills to a manager with greater authority. Moyes is not flawless. There are slow games and moments when West Ham plays too deep. It is been difficult for strikers in his system. The innovative football played by Spurs under manager Ange Postecoglou, who was previously rejected by West Ham, makes fans jealous.
