David Moyes remains secure in his job despite West Ham sinking to a 5-0 defeat at Fulham on Sunday. The club are not in a rush to make a managerial change and are confident Moyes can inspire an improvement as the team head into a key period of the season.
There is less confidence that Moyes will still be in his post at the start of next season. The Scot’s deal expires next summer and only a strong end to this campaign will convince West Ham to offer him a new deal.
The long-term uncertainty has raised doubts over whether West Ham will back Moyes during the January transfer window, even though Michail Antonio’s absence with a knee injury has exposed a lack of depth up front. They have previously considered Bournemouth’s Dominic Solanke and Paris Saint-Germain’s Hugo Ekitiké as attacking reinforcements.
Tim Steidten, the technical director, will be involved in lining up potential candidates to replace Moyes. Steidten was brought in last summer and was believed to have had disagreements with the former Manchester United manager over transfer strategy. West Ham sold their captain Declan Rice to Arsenal for £105m and signed Mohammed Kudus, Konstantinos Mavropanos, Edson Álvarez and James Ward-Prowse.
Although Kudus has been impressive and scored six goals since joining from Ajax, the jury is out on West Ham’s overall business. Mavronapos, the Greece centre-back, has not convinced since signing from Stuttgart. Álvarez and Ward-Prowse have had positive spells but Moyes has not always found the right balance in midfield.
It has been acknowledged, though, that West Ham have made a decent start. They are ninth in the Premier League, will win their Europa League group if they draw at home to Freiburg on Thursday and face Liverpool in the quarter-finals of the Carabao Cup next Wednesday. It means Moyes remains in credit, especially after helping West Ham win the Europa Conference League last season.
This is West Ham’s third consecutive season in Europe and there were mitigating circumstances around the defeat at Fulham. A sickness bug that meant Álvarez was absent has swept through the camp and affected several players. Moyes said West Ham were tired after claiming a memorable win over Tottenham last Thursday. He has given the players two days off.
Equally there have been misgivings over Moyes’s managerial style for a while. He came close to the sack on several occasions last season and there have been complaints over his pragmatic tactics. Doubts have been expressed from within the dressing room and some supporters have grumbled about the quality of the team’s football. The stability provided by Moyes means that West Ham are under no pressure to make a change.
