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Moyes To Tread Fine Line Tonight

Louis Nixon's picture
Submitted by Louis Nixon on Thu, 21/10/2021 - 09:11

Hammers fans have historically dreamt of having the sort of 'fixture congestion issues' that now face the club, not since the halcyon days of 1964-1966 has the club been actively pursuing success on FOUR different fronts! Of course with achievement comes responsibility, that particular burden rests on the shoulders of David Moyes who, much like the club, is enjoying an invigorating renaissance at the London Bowl despite operating with a metaphorical hand tied behind his back due to the chronic lack of funding at his disposal.

Crowded Schedule?

Tonight's UEFA Europa League cup game against Genk is the first of a triple header of home games, it is swiftly followed by the Barclays Premier League derby against Tottingham on Sunday and then the Carabou Cup game against all conquering Manchester City the following Wednesday. There is no respite after the three home games, because the team then travel to Aston Villa on the Sunday, that's an astonishing FOUR games in only TEN days!

Things don't get that much better in the next week as Hammers have to play the away Europa Cup game against KRC Genk on November the 4th, followed by the Barclays Premier League game at home to Liverpool THREE days later! So Moyes's team(s) will have to play a total of SEVEN games in only 17 days, quite an ask from a wafer thin squad, isn't it?

There are some who might say "they are paid a fortune, why can't they play so many games in such a short space of time?", whereas there may be others, admittedly now long in the tooth, who remember when Hammers could have won the League in !985/6 had it not been for a ridiculous fixture pile up caused by the 'once in a lifetime winter of that year.

So in a way David Moyes only has to really think about who NOT to play in each game, Michail Antonio being the only bona fide striker obviously needs 'game management' and will therefore be used as sparingly as possible, as should Declan Rice and one or two others.

Moyes will need to tread a fine line between cause and effect and commitment, it's a long old season, especially with the added workload of the European competition, but it is a problem fans have waited an awful long time to experience, let's hope the experience is not awful by the end! - LN

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