No the Hammers manager hasn't embarked on a mind advancing programme, or an Estj based getting to know yourself while you are threatened with being thrown off a cliff weekend retreat course! We are discussing whether David Moyes really does need help, he is notoriously stubborn to the point of 'cutting his own nose off to spite his face'!
There is stubborn and there is sheer bloody mindedness, the two bare the same resemblance but are different, however the outcome of having a person 'afflicted' with either trait being in charge of a team of strong willed multi millionaire footballers is almost entirely predictable and NOT good for fans of the relevant club, not it's owners.
In an emergency it is possible to run across the M25 without getting killed or seriously injured, but it doesn't mean a person should attempt it even once, let alone regularly. The game of top flight football has moved on immeasurably in the last millennium, even more so in the last decade. Players rarely get 'frozen out' by managers now, with the obvious exception of Ten Haag and The Preening One, the boot is firmly on the other foot now and it is the players who hold ALL the Aces.
So with that reality in mind, playing players out of position should by now be a practice consigned to the rubbish bin, however certain managers insist on their "it's my way or the highway' philosophy with the consequent loss of form and more importantly to club owners, the player's value. Time and time again David Moyes has chosen to ignore the thousands of voices urging him to pick teams that are capable of playing on the front foot AND where they play in their correct potions. Moyes might have got away with it in the past, but he has become a one trick pony who's trick has been exposed!
What worked a couple of seasons ago clearly doesn't work now, the welcome victory over perennial losers on their travels Forest masks the fact that prior to the match the team had regressed alarmingly, summed up by the utterly insipid and inept performance against Tottingham a fortnight ago.
Small shoots of recovery are beginning to show in the form of Tomas Soucek being 'allowed' further up the pitch with Declan Rice dropping a little deeper, and Moyes actually starting a 'proper' out and out striker! Mikey Antonio has played in every position for the club bar goalkeeper and has been an incredibly loyal performer, but a striker he is NOT! There is no question that he is a goal scorer but he is far more suited to 'bullying' the opposition than being a 'fox in the box', so starting Danny Ings was at last a step forward for Moyes' 'mind expansion'.
With summer signing Gianluca Scamacca now also available David Moyes AT LAST has the option of using Mikey as an impact sub, a role the 32 year old would relish even if he pretends he doesn't. Staring the game WITH an out and out striker is half way to the fans Nirvana wish of having TWO strikers on the field at the same time!
We are not suggesting Moyes has to go gung ho and play two up front all of the time, but surely he knows that the best form of defence his team can have on some occasions is to attack, rather than sit back and waiting to be picked off! -LN
Comments
Ings
Is a short term solution to a long standing West Ham problem up front. I have a lot of time for Antonio and resent the abuse he is getting as he has been the odd job man for just about every occasion. He's not a striker, never professed to be a striker and for me I'd still have him on the right over Jarrod Bowen. Yeah he's getting on and time isn't on his side, but if he's going to be an impact sub it would be for Bowen. Could have been more than four against Forest but for some wayward shooting and non passing decisions by Bowen.
Antonio
Such a frustrating player a jack of all trades if you will but like you say deluded and something we all know and that he is not a striker....yes he can do a job short term but he simply does not have the natural instinct of a striker like Ings and i have little doubt he would not of scored either of the goals that Ings scored......Scamacca not really given a chance and touted as rubbish and a waste of money that is simply ridiculous give the man a chance and for gods sake Moyes stop isolating our strikers it does not do any good.....Ings for the here and now and Scamacca can deffo learn from him because i certainly think the lad has the physicality to cope with anything the Prem can throw at him and he certainly has the skill level IMO he just needs to be given more of a chance.
I agree with both comments.
I agree with both comments. We have a talented squad. Ings, Scammaca, Antonio, theres room for them all and Bowen. That's why we don't and should not be thinking of selling them.
Unfortunately we have a dinosaur of a manager. In my opinion not in tune with the modern game, or the adaptation thats needed to progress in the Premier League.
Can you imagine us under Pep? Or Potchetino? Arteta or any other forward thinking manager, who rotates players on the pitch. Adaptation is what we need. Forward thinking. A creative mind that utilises all of it's squad to avoid stagnation and repetition.
It's not the players it's the Manager. We are stagnant, even after Saturday. Forest were so crap, we looked like world beaters in the last 35 minutes.
We may scrape to stay up? But only because there's 3 worse teams than us, by default and certainly not by design...