WEST HAM New gaffer reveals rescue plan I’ve no time for drivel or pandering to the players’ needs...we’re on a mission
DAVID MOYES is a rejuvenated man on a mission, who has no time for disruptive West Ham players.
And, after signing a sevenmonth deal at the London Stadium, he has warned his stars that there is no time to waste as he looks to get his career and their season back on track.
“This time I can’t be bothered with any drivel,” said the 54-year-old Scot.
“I’m getting on with the job and I am going to be direct with the players.
“If they don’t like it, then I’m sorry, but I’ve just not got time to pander to your needs.
“Will it happen next week? I hope so.
“But, if not, then we have to try to get through to them quickly.
“If it works, then great. But, if it doesn’t, I have seen the East End of London for seven months.
“I wouldn’t say it is bust, but we’re really trying to go on a mission to get a good job done.”
Moyes looks mission-ready – fit, fresh and recharged by his short break from the game following his exit from Sunderland.
But, with a run of games against Manchester City, Chelsea and Arsenal lurking at the start of December, he knows he must hit the ground running against Watford next Sunday and then Leicester and Everton.
The onus will be on the experienced players in the squad – Joe Hart, Pablo Zabaleta and Javier Hernandez, who scored the first goal of Moyes’ Manchester United reign – to galvanise the team.
Moyes added:
“With the stuff we’re going to i mplement and work we’re going to do, we need the experienced players to be the ones to say, ‘Yeah, we know what we’re doing’.
“Ultimately, you prepare them, you organise them and do the work during the week, but when they cross that white line, there is a responsibility on the players – that is why players are paid very good wages. “So they can’t be looking down and saying, ‘Hey, it’s the manager, we need him to be telling us what to do when defending a corner’, or whatever – they need to have responsibility themselves.” Moyes knows he also has much to prove after his spells in charge of United, Real Sociedad and Sunderland.
And he is keen to show the mojo – which saw him do so well at Everton, and, before that, Preston – is still there.
Moyes said: “If West Ham end up getting the Everton team from when I left, they will be loving it, because we had a great team in the last two seasons.
Mistakes
“We f i nished above Liverpool in the last two seasons, we were regulars in the Europa League, we were getting to FA Cup Finals... so if we can get West Ham like that, we will be going in the right direction.
“I want to get the intensity high here. “I want to make sure we have a team that can go for 90 minutes, if we can. And I would like – in three or four weeks’ time – for people to say, ‘West Ham look a really organised team’.
“I don’t think West Ham have been playing terribly badly.
“They have just been making some horrible mistakes and that is why they are struggling.”