West Ham have taken a huge gamble it would seem in deciding to give David Moyes a shot at managerial redemption. The Irons are in a mess in the Premier League relegation zone heading into the international break with just the two wins on the board so far from their eleven games played. They have totalled just the nine points and are currently a point away from safety.
West Ham have been priced up at 9/4 with bet365 to suffer Premier League Relegation this season and punters haven’t been convinced that Moyes is going to be the man to keep them up. The club are in this position because of Slaven Bilic’s tactical failures with the Hammers and he had been living on borrowed time. West Ham had their struggles last season as well so this isn’t just a current misfire.
It was somewhat surprising that West Ham didn’t give Bilic the boot after a 3-0 defeat at home against Brighton on October 20th. A failure to beat Crystal Palace followed that and then a 4-1 home hammering against Liverpool last weekend was the final nail in the coffin for Bilic’s tenure at the east London club. The Hammers have won just one of their last seven games in the top flight and have a tough run of games come up as well.
West Ham have to face Man City, Chelsea and Arsenal in three straight fixtures at the start of December. The Hammers have suffered some big beatings in the defence and have shipped nine in their last three alone. They currently have the worst defence in the entire top flight at the moment. They are 13/10 at bet365 to fail to win a game in November (away at Watford, home against Leicester and away at Everton).
Why Moyes doesn’t appeal
Punters are still backing the Hammers to take the drop at 9/4 and why not? Last season in the Premier League, Moyes dragged Sunderland down to the Championship, the Mackems finishing bottom of the table with just the six wins for the season. That followed disappointing spells he had with Real Sociedad and of course at Manchester United.
The concern for West Ham must be looking at the situation that Sunderland are in at the moment, largely because of Moyes’ failures last season. The Black Cats have continued to sink and are currently bottom of the Championship table, which is a place that West Ham, of course, won’t want to go. But it must be on the mind of fans with Moyes arriving at the club.
The Sunderland performances in the Premier League season under Moyes were hugely problematic. There was no fight in the players and just a lack of inspiration all over the pitch and Moyes himself famously said in the January transfer window that players coming in wouldn’t help them, so throw in a defeatist attitude, and the Irons are not exactly getting a character that is going to instil fight into them. They badly need it too, because time and time again this season they have crumbled after conceding goals.
This is a shot in the dragk by West Ham and it doesn’t immediately seem like a good fit. Does he have the fire to light up the Hammers? He will probably bring a bit more structure to them defensively but is the problem bigger than that anyway?
Are West Ham just lacking the quality of players that they need to survive in the Premier League? They are currently only a 6/5 quote to finish higher than Bournemouth in the final standings, the team one point above them in the current table. Maybe Moyes will earn that redemption and optimistic punters can take an 11/2 option on them to finish in the top ten.