Leicester City boss Brendan Rodgers has backed West Ham United manager David Moyes to turn things around at the London Stadium after the World Cup break.
The Hammers ended their run of fixtures before this month’s World Cup starts on Saturday with a 2-0 defeat at home to Leicester City, with goals from James Maddison and Harvey Barnes enough to seal all three points for Rodgers’ foxes.
Defeat for West Ham, their fourth in their last five league games, saw them fall to 16 th in the Premier League table, just a point clear of the relegation zone heading into a 38-day period without playing a competitive match.
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In their 15 league matches so far this season, West Ham have already suffered nine league defeats. That is their highest tally of league defeats at this stage of a season since the 1976/77 season 46 years ago. In that time, West Ham have been relegated four times.
Pressure is slowly building on Moyes after a poor run of recent form in the Premier League that has seen West Ham fall to just outside of the relegation zone.
One man who knows all about poor starts to the season in Leicester boss Rodgers. At the start of the season, Leicester picked up just one point from their opening seven games of the campaign and have spent the majority of the campaign to date.
Now, after four wins from their final five league games before the break, Rodgers has guided Leicester up to 12th , with only Arsenal (first) and Newcastle United (third) picking up more points in their last five matches than the Foxes.
Despite the heavy expectation that Rodgers would be sacked earlier in the season, backing from the club’s owners led to Rodgers getting Leicester’s season back on track, helped by the form of midfielder Maddison who will be in England’s squad at the World Cup.
Speaking on the support he had, Rodgers admitted he was grateful to have been allowed to try and change Leicester’s fortunes around earlier this season.
“It is just the nature of the game. It brings the pressure for managers which feeds into boardrooms,” said Rodgers. “But it is something that was evidenced before with my work here, so when we hit that sticky patch, because you do as a manager, unless you are very fortunate, and even the fortunate ones with all the money, you are never going to be in a forward trajectory.
“There will be moments when you have a blip and then you have to consolidate and go again. I am very lucky here that the owners have shown a belief since the day I walked in. they have let me get on with my work without pressure.
“I know I need to win games. That’s my job. the club expected and trusted me to do that. it is a business now where managers if they don’t get it, everyone wants change.”
With West Ham currently in their worst league form since picking up three points from six games between February and June 2020, concerns from fans have grown over Moyes.
However, former Liverpool and Rangers boss Rodgers has backed Moyes to turn things around and has given some reasons behind why West Ham have started the season poorly, stating that he is more than capable of getting the Hammers back to their best.
“Absolutely. He is a top-class manager. He has taken the club from where it was a few years ago into European football, which we never would have thought that was possible from where they were,” added Rodgers.
“Big turnaround in the summer in terms of players and the adaptation takes time, a lot of new players in a new level, plus some senior players who are on the decline. That also happens, but David is a top-class manager.
“He will be disappointed but he will go away and come back and use this time well I have no doubt he will get them winning again."
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