Forum | General Discussion

A week can be a long time in politics, and two weeks a lifetime, but two weeks in football can be an eternity! Just ask the chaps at BT Sport, when as soon as the FA Cup 3rd round fixtures were announced, their programmers looked for the 'best' potential cup upset and decided, following 'Oxford Gate', that Gillingham's home tie against West Ham United meant that they could have a 'giant killing' on the cards, after all, it's what the FA Cup is all about isn't it?

Of course hindsight is a wonderful thing, because the tie was scheduled while Manuel Pellegrini was still Hammers' manager, his disdain for the cup competitions was well documented, and his approach and team selection for cup matches confirmed his particularly stubborn stance. BT Sport were licking their lips at the prospect of the 'mighty Hammers' being embarrassed by 'lowly' Gillingham.

However, that was then and this is now, one of the first public statements newly appointed manager David Moyes made was to confirm his desire for the club to progress in the FA Cup, he clearly understands that a 'Euro' spot is out of the question through the team's Barclays Premier League potential finishing position, but knows how important the FA Cup is to fans who have been starved of the excitement the competition can bring, it may not be a 'big earner' now, but fans still love it!

There is no point in 'saving' players for the final push, because by doing so the management would essentially be writing the season off, fears of relegation have been temporarily suspended following the thumping of Bournemouth, and while future opposition will be far more difficult to beat, the fact is the entire squad, bar a couple, were playing as if they had lead in their boots, David Moyes is known for his fitness regimes, and his desire to have his players to be playing on the front foot, play a pressing game but also being capable of hitting teams on the break.

The 'new manager' bounce won't last forever, but given the fact that the team was perpetually so massively under performing, Moyes would be extremely hard put to do any where near as badly! His back to the basics template works, and this time he has a much bigger arsenal at his disposal to work with compared with that of his last tenure at the club, so essentially all he has to do is get the players to perform to the level that they are capable of, by getting players to play in a position that brings out the best of their qualities, Felipe Anderson playing in the middle means support for Haller, and Moyes also knows what a talent Pablo Fornals is, he even knows to play Authur Masuaku as an advanced left winger, it's not rocket science, just basic logic.

Hopefully Moyes doesn't go too gung ho though, if 'the beast's' troublesome hammy is playing up, then rest him, no one will accuse the manager of playing a 2nd strength team if he is ensuring the player's availability for the league matches to come because of his fitness issues, but by the same measure fans will want to see a team full of purpose that doesn't underestimate the opposition, but gives them a hard game that culminates in a victory that will be seen by a huge hunk of the football viewing nation.

Bt Sport were looking for an upset, it is to be hoped that Hammers can upset the upset! - Ed

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?