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In a Premier League season that seems to offer opportunities to a host of clubs, David Moyes and West Ham should seek to rank in the top half of the table at least.
For Moyes and his club, there has been too much fighting and mediocrity in recent years.
From that point of view, Moyes is in the right place as he seeks to fully reestablish his reputation. The Scotsman and the club he works for feel like they belong somewhere other than the bottom tier of our first division. They both have something to prove whether they like to admit it or not.
Moyes has always been a strange contradiction of talent and sensitivity. His failure at Manchester United marked him after years of constant success and improvement at Preston and Everton. To everyone except his most ardent disciples, it can sometimes seem like he’s looking to finally draw a line below that and move on.
At West Ham, his work has been increasingly impressive. His team seems to have finally rid themselves of some of the schizophrenia that plagued them during many of their years in the Premier League and it was no surprise to see them competitive and determined.
Moyes’ West Ham team is certainly different than the ones we’ve seen recently.
This version seems a bit more reliable, a bit less dependent on people, and a bit more resilient. Moyes, for example, has brought out the best in an honest player in Jarrod Bowen, who was bought from Hull City last January, and the emergence of Michail Antonio as a center forward has surprised a lot of people. Sadly, he was still away injured by this one.
In his prime, during his years at Everton, Moyes was a good organizer, a good player unifier and a fusion of talent; a coach who was at his best on the pitch working with players eager to improve.
Some of that seemed to be lost during subsequent forays at United, Real Sociedad and Sunderland. Much of what made him such a prominent manager seemed to sink beneath the surface of a man who apparently forgot what he was good at.
But here his team seemed structured and sensible enough that he was unaffected by the decision to retire Mark Noble.
The West Ham stalwart had not started in the Premier League since the opening weekend’s loss to Newcastle. But at Stamford Bridge, Noble returned to midfield alongside young Declan Rice. Rice admits he has learned a lot from Noble, but he seems destined to advance his career by playing for opponents on Monday night.
Chelsea’s interest in Rice is intense enough to suggest that they will offer West Ham a sum they cannot turn down, in all likelihood next summer.
However, that is a problem for Moyes in the future. Monday night, the most pressing issue was how his team fell behind. Chelsea are a good set pieces team, but sleepy Aaron Cresswell gave Thiago Silva too much room when he led Chelsea in front from a corner. West Ham had started slowly and it felt like their night was long from then on. Chelsea was hungry for them.
But over the course of the first half, Frank Lampard’s men lost their momentum and when Lukasz Fabianski, West Ham’s most trusted goalkeeper for some time, saved Timo Werner well just before the break, it felt like West Ham was still good in the game.
That sentiment only deepened in the second period, during which West Ham was the best team for half an hour.
As such, Moyes will have been devastated to lose in such a gloomy way ultimately.
They lacked spark in the last third and that served them well. Tammy Abraham’s last two goals were bad to concede, but she was a failure to make her own mark in front of goal during a period of dominance that hurt them.
Despite their improvement this season, West Ham’s standout result remains a draw at home with Manchester City.
After this, they sit tenth. Pretty respectable, but this open season it feels a bit disappointing. There seems to be room for improvement.
Source: m.allfootballapp.com
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