Will Moyes Amaze With His Line Up?

Back in his dug out, 25 yards from the pitch at the London Stadium, newly ensconced Hammers manager David Moyes will have all eyes focused on him and his team selection for the crucial six-pointer against Bournemouth this evening.

The irony that the Two David's are reunited with the other David as an eventual result of each party NOT getting their first choice will not be lost by many observers, the Hammers co-owners wanted Manuel Pellegrini to turn things around, thus saving them an expensive pay off, whereas David Moyes probably thought that he would be a shoe in at Everton following their struggles, alas it was not too be, as Carlos Ancelotti jumped in ahead of him!

Having felt more than a little hard done by during his initial spell with West Ham, Moyes insisted on an eighteen month contract with an option to extend before he would join the maelstrom that the club has become. Fans dreading a dour brand of percentage football will be hard to win over, although this time Moyes does have some ammunition to work with, although any transfer targets that he is involved in will carry the caveat of the signing of Jordan Hugill, an unmitigated disaster of the highest order.

Given the side's atrocious defensive record, there is a strong possibility that Moyes might deploy a 5-3-2 formation in order to be able to flood the midfield in a bid to stave off being over run on a constant basis. In order to implement a strengthening of the defence, something has to give, Felipe Anderson, Pablo Fornals and Manuel Lanzini are all superb players on their day, the problem has been that 'their days' have not been often enough.

Moyes could gain himself a bit of instant popularity by dropping Carlos Sanchez from the squad entirely, and ensuring he never dons the Claret and Blue again! Another piece of instant gratification would be his overseeing the rebirth of Sebastian Haller as the striker that he really is, for despite criticism of many aspects of his management, Moyes has a excellent track record of motivating 'class' players who have gone off the boil for whatever reason, or never reached the heights that they were capable of.

Get Haller scoring, and the rest will fall in place, Manuel Pellegrini spent the vast amount of his managerial career with access to squads containing World class players in abundance, so not getting Haller to play to his strengths didn't seem to particularly bother him, whereas a 'domestic' manager more used to operating on a limited budget would more likely have moved heaven and earth in order to get their prized asset performing to their absolute maximum.

Around 16:30 Hrs fans will get their first glimpse of the 'new era', except of course it won't, just an old one revisited, groundhog day?