Sheepish players lose belief in Moyes – West Ham News:
Hammers players lose belief in Moyes
For nearly two years, I have rejected the notion that David Moyes had lost the dressing room.
My reasoning was simple: with five or six players continually putting in maximum effort, it showed that some still believed in him.
Whilst Moyes could be accused of demoralising fringe players such as Said Benrahma, there were always the likes of Coufal, Soucek, Bowen & Zouma who seemed to believe in the manager.
However, after witnessing the performance from the West Ham team against Nottingham Forest, I struggled to see a single player fighting for the manager.
What I saw was a collection of players bereft of belief, many of whom went into hiding.
Hammers players lose belief in Moyes as the teams discipline failed
Very early in the game, none of the team were showing for the ball or demanding passes be played to them. As a result, there was no pass and move, just pass and stand still.
David Moyes had two tasks following the 6-0 thrashing at the hands of Arsenal. The first was to use his man-management skills to instill belief in the players, and secondly, to devise a tactical plan they could execute. He did neither.
Of course, there was some professional pride on show, but the players’ frustration manifested itself in a lack of discipline.
Much will be made of Kalvin Phillips’ sending off, but to concentrate solely on that will distract from the wider disciplinary issues. To put it bluntly… they were all at it.
Lack of discipline
West Ham collected a plethora of cards, and it began early with the booking of Mohammed Kudus. Zouma should have been shown two yellows, and Coufal resorted to play-acting before getting an actual fat lip.
The multiple cards were really a display of players looking for a hiding place because none could be found within the tactical framework, which was destined to fail.
Perhaps the board is expecting Moyes to turn things around like he did last season, or perhaps they don’t see the team for the demoralised group of players they clearly are. However, things are different from last season.
In the absence of genuine leadership from the manager last season, the team could rely on Declan Rice to pull us through tight games. That’s no longer the case, Kurt Zouma is not a leader and there is no obvious choice.
We also had the fabulous Paul Nevin, who was a set-piece specialist, as well as Mark Warburton, who was unafraid to speak his mind to Moyes. But most importantly, the manager could still rely on his players believing in his tactics and his messaging.
Unfortunately, that’s gone now, and who can blame them? With 11 goals conceded and none scored in the last three games, why would anyone seriously take Moyes’ tactical observations with any level of authority?
