MOYES GETS WEST HAM UP FOR FIGHT
Maligned boss even has Arnautovic scrapping
WhILE David Moyes was smiling and rightly revelling in the brilliance of it all, Jose Fonte was gritting his teeth a few corridors away. happiness in one part of the club, ruffled feathers in another — just call it the West ham Way.
There was no denying Fonte’s irritation when he was reminded of what the owner David sullivan had said in an interview, namely that his kids ‘begged’ him not to sign the defender and Robert snodgrass on the say-so of slaven Bilic.
‘It’s ignorance,’ Fonte said. ‘I am 34 years of age. I have 500 or 600 appearances. I know what I have done in football.’
A bit of drama, a bit of discord, a bit of the usual in these parts, you might say.
But saturday was also a day for bucking trends, both in the recent history of the club and the longer-term fortunes of its manager. What happened against Chelsea was immensely important for both, with West ham getting their first win at the London stadium since september and Moyes bringing the resurrection forward from Easter to Christmas. That, of course, is being wildly premature. But there was a sharp sense on saturday, and indeed in their late defeat by Manchester City the previous sunday, that his appointment might, maybe, somehow, despite the considerable grumbles that came with his arrival last month, be one that works for all parties.
For West ham, a sense of defensive order and clarity that was horribly absent in the latter days of Bilic. For Moyes, a ray of hope for the first time since he left Everton in 2013, during which period he has held three jobs and left each of them in less than 12 months. The wilderness years, bleak and draining, were lit up with a win over Barcelona in January 2015 when he was at Real sociedad, but he has done very little since.
until Chelsea dropped by. They entered West ham’s troubled home unbeaten in
seven in the league and left with Antonio Conte talking them out of the title race. He looked beaten because he was, undone not just because of a thin squad and ‘fatigue’ and 19 chances not taken, but because he was out-thought by Moyes.
The Scot, for all his energy-sapping defeatism at Sunderland, was nothing if not brave here. He left out Joe Hart, went with three at the back, overcame the temptation to man-mark Eden Hazard and watched as the defence held their line perfectly, barring a moment in the 82nd minute when Alvaro Morata had a chance and blew it. Pedro Obiang was briefed to sit deep and suffocate Hazard and he did it. Andy Carroll and Javier Hernandez were left on the bench because Moyes envisioned a day for the counter-punches of Marko Arnautovic and Michail Antonio and that was spot-on as well.
In the case of Arnautovic, ovic, there was an example of individual diat improvement that summed up how the wider r team is starting to finally wise up. Moyes had been scathing about the £24million record signing, effectively accusing him of not running, not scoring, not working for his team, but on Saturday the e forward scored his first goal al for the club and bust a gutt in chasing lost causes.
‘What the people here want to see is players putting in effort,’fft’ Moyes M said. ‘The energy Marko showed is giving the crowd a lift and they are reacting. If Marko can do it, they can all do it.’
Arthur Masuaku was excellent at wingback, Winston Reid dominated Morata and Adrian is set to keep his spot ahead of Hart against Arsenal on Wednesday. A big call from Moyes, but after his first win in five attempts, the decisions are starting to look shrewd. More than that, the players have shown in the past two games that they are fighting for him, buying into him. Time will tell if this win is a false start for the managmanager in a stadium built for athletics. athletic Indeed, Moyes has spent his past 41 weekends as a PrPremier League boss in the relegation rel zone. But if nothing else, this game g offered a resounding hope h that he can turn that around, for himself and West Ham.