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Today was the first step

Submitted by alby foreverirons on Thu, 02/01/2020 - 00:03

in what hopefully is the start of a fight back to get us up the ladder into a safe position. For me the next 4 games are going to be important. We have Sheffield away, Everton at home Leicester away and BHA home so we need at least 7 points from those games to give us a chance.
Next weekend we have the fa game against Gillingham and after watching the after match interview with Moyes I am feeling he will field a strong team. He stated that he wants to go all the way in the cup and to do that he and the players have to stand up so hopefully unlike our other past few managers he will keep the team that played today as they then have a week before the Sheffield game to recover. A cup run with intent is what all us fans are craving so let’s see.
It will be an interesting month in the transfer market for us to see who goes and who we bring in, for me Sanchez and Roberto definitely need to go and I would like to see four players brought in. Another goal keeper is a must and I would like to see another holding midfielder and left back and right back come. As many have said Masuaku should be used as a backup left midfielder so we need someone in case Cresswell gets injured or suspended. We need someone to cover for Fredericks as Zabs is good but no where near quick enough to help defence and another decent holdings midfielder to take Sanchez’s spot.
The other thing that made me happy like I stated on another post was the way Moyes took no credit for today’s win as like he said he has only been back for a couple of days but the passion he showed after the game going onto the field and shaking all the players hand instead of just standing on the sideline waiting for them to come off, to me that shows passion and we have been lacking that from the manager and the players for too long.

Dartford Bhoy's picture

agree about Arthur used as back up in the midfield, I thought he looked very comfortable in that position. Just need to strengthen in the areas you mention, still think Joe Allen could do a job for us.

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57 users have voted.

but like has been said, if he is the right price and comes to have a fair dinkum go then I would take him. Whoever comes in this window we need young hungry players that will compete for positions and just to join the West Ham retirement fund.

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62 users have voted.
mcbikeman's picture

Under El Pel he seemed obsessed with getting wide players in when the club had plenty already who could do a job and like you mention we all know Masuaku is better playing wide up the pitch than anywhere near the defence and the fullback/wingback(under moyes more likely)position and centre midfield which every man and his dog new was where the squad needs strengthening most surely the goals we were leaking showed that but El Pel just never saw it....Moyes likes Allen and i do see him coming in if the price is right as Brucie used to say and for those of you who shake your head and say he's to old or not good enough have a little thought as to the predicament we are in and who we can attract...hopefully the days of overpaying the transfer fee and players wages are coming to an end we can but hope.

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71 users have voted.

I actually think Moyes had a lot to do with that win, and was just being humble after the game.

Pellegrini was very stubborn in his defensive philosophy. We would never press, instead we would drop back into the 4-4-2 and look to flood out the box when attacked. Howe set up for this - with Lerma and Cook on the double pivot and they looked to attack like that, believing they would be afforded time and space on the ball to start attacks. However Moyes completely changed the gameplan, we did a 4-4-2 cautious alleyway press. The movement was clever, funneling them out wide from the 2 forwards into areas where Noble and Rice could win it on the front foot. Tactically he outclassed Howe and we ran riot in the 1st half.

Then onto the man management style- "give us a brazilian goal" to Anderson - scores for the 1st time in a year, has a 1 2 1 with Nobes and he gives his best performance. Snodgrass ran his nuts off, and Haller was running in behind instead of acting as the advanced pivot - and he looked much better.

The messaging from the club has changed as well. It's not about "philosophy" and "this moments" but about grafting for the badge and earning the Jersey. This can have a huge psychological impact on the players as the messaging is very clear: work hard!

Considering we had lost to:

Out of form Everton
Out of form Arsenal (worst Arsenal side I've ever seen play us)
Leicester B team
Palace

In the build up to this game a 4-0 win was incredible and it could have been more.

I think Moyes pragmatism will be really useful for us. I'm interested to see what he does against Sheffield utd as their system is extremely unique and hard to combat! However they dont play with a 10 and that's usually when we struggle. Against 4-4-2 we usually do ok. But their 3-5-2 is a different kettle of fish. The only weakness I see is their right hand side as their CB and RWB push on high leaving space behind.

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60 users have voted.
Dartford Bhoy's picture

Good post Tommy, agree with all points. I would have added Oxford to your list of significant losses. I think he can get the best out of players, love him or hate him, IMO, he made a better player of Arnie by giving him the responsibility of striker.

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