Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)

MOYES BOYS LOOK EVER SO FAMILIAR

Hammers boss proving his worth again as his trusted Goodison formula pays dividends

- BY DARREN LEWIS

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 the transfer market has paid such dividends that match-winner Tomas Soucek has been hailed as the new Marouane Fellaini by Jose Mourinho, who of course managed Fellaini at Manchester United.

West Ham are well organised and harder to beat right now thann they have been for some time.

They got away with it big time here as Ademola Lookman went for an i njurytime ‘ 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 fr om an average right-winger to a centreforw­ard with genuine menace.

There is something very Everton about the way in which Moyes has reinvented the Hammers. “We are improving the mentality here, the players know what is expected ,” said former Everton 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 the impact made by Said 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 the Emirates and Anfield 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 consulting VAR . But the Hammers boss was all smiles after his side’s reprie ve thanks to Lookman’s blunder.

His bid to turn the improving London side into a Premier

League force is shaping up very indeed.

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