MOYES BOYS LOOK EVER SO FAMILIAR
Hammers boss proving his worth again as his trusted Goodison formula pays dividends
SURELY West Ham must be thinking about a new deal for David Moyes now.
What more does the Hammers boss have to do to get the credit he deserves?
Twice in the last three seasons he has been drafted in to clean up the mess of more glamorous names, saving the club from relegation each time.
His work i n th e transfer market has paid such dividends that match- winner Tomas Soucek has been hailed as the new Marouane Fell aini by Jose Mourinho, who of course managed Fellaini at Manchester United.
West Ham are well organised and harder to beat right now than n they have been f or some time.
They got away with i t big time here as Ademola Lookman went f or an i njur ytime ‘ Panenka’ penalty and embarrassingly blew it.
But Moyes has motivated a side, beaten at home by Newcastle at the start of the campaign, to smash up Wolves and Leicester and take points off Spurs and Manchester City.
He has transformed Michail Antonio f r om an av era ge r i ght- winger t o a centreforward with genuine menace.
There i s something ver y Everton about the way i n which Moyes has reinvented the Hammers. “We are improving the mentality here, the players know what is expect ed ,” s ai d f o r m e r E v e r t o n and Manchester United boss Moyes. “They were aware of my feelings for the last four minutes of the game. I wasn’t happy with the way we managed those last four minutes.”
Moyes was delighted with t he i mpact made by Sai d Benrahma, who came off the bench to change the game and create the winning goal for Soucek. You suspect the Algerian is going to be some player for West Ham.
A new deal for Moyes has got to be in the works, hasn’t it?
So much of the bitterness and frustration that enveloped the club and its fans earlier this season has disappeared.
This win hauled the Hammers to 11th spot and, with winnable games to come against Sheffield United and Aston Villa after the international break, the only way is up.
It could, with a bit more luck, have been even better for Moyes’s team, who give off a whiff of Everton at their peak under the Scottish manager. Remember, they took Arsenal and Liverpool to the brink at t he Emirat e s and Anfi el d respectively.
As for Scott Parker’s Fulham, they proved here after a torrid start to the campaign that it was indeed far too glib ( and quite lazy given such an unpredictable season) to suggest they are not good enough to stay up.
They were solid, efficient, and disciplined and would have been excellent value for a point.
Moyes hurled his jacket to the ground ( left) when referee Rob Jones gave Fulham a penalty after consult i ng VAR . But t h e Hammers boss was all smiles after his side’s re pr i e v e t hank s t o Lookman’s blunder.
His bid to turn the improving London side into a Premier
League f orce i s shaping up very indeed.