NO workforce is ever "too good" to go down and West Ham are sleepwalking in the direction of relegation.
The Hammers have been faltering domestically for over a yr now - however their type has been masked by a powerful run in Europe final season, which noticed David Moyes' males attain the Europa League semi-finals.
A whopping £160million was spent in the summertime to assist West Ham and Moyes reinvent themselves, with the Scotsman admitting: "I've to alter the best way West Ham play."
In got here the likes of Lucas Paqueta, Gianluca Scamacca, Nayef Aguerd and Maxwel Cornet.
However the Hammers are but to reap the rewards of their splurge and Moyes is unwilling to belief his spectacular attacking cohort, sticking with a defensive, low-energy fashion.
Up till Sunday's lifeless 2-0 derby loss to Tottenham, key West Ham figures have arrogantly dismissed the likelihood that the London Stadium tenants may drop into the Championship.
Moyes declared in December that his workforce have been in a European battle, NOT a relegation battle.
Such feedback got here after recording simply 4 league wins at that time.
Hammers captain Declan Rice parroted his supervisor's delusion, insisting West Ham weren't in "a relegation battle in any respect".
However with West Ham sitting within the backside three with simply 20 factors from 23 video games, recording one win of their final ten Prem video games, and mustering simply 4 pictures on track of their final three outings, the tune has predictably modified.
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Maybe matching Avram Grant's factors tally after 23 video games within the relegation season of 2010-11 has awoken the Hammers from their state of paralysis.
"Let’s see who’s up for the battle," mentioned Moyes, after jeers of "West Ham are happening" rang across the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, the place his workforce failed to put a glove on their London rivals.
"I will be seeking to see the color of the gamers' eyes within the subsequent week," challenged the ex-Manchester United boss.
Lifelong Hammers fan Flynn Downes, who joined the membership from Swansea in the summertime, mentioned: "We all know what we’re in for NOW, it’s a relegation battle, if you happen to just like the details or not, that’s what it's so yeah, let’s have it."
Rice, who appears set to go away West Ham in the summertime with the Premier League's large boys circling, even questioned Moyes' ways.
Moyes despatched out a again 5 protected by a midfield three who've posed little or no attacking menace this season, leaving Michail Antonio and Jarrod Bowen remoted.
The Hammers are setting as much as not concede objectives, which is all properly and good, however they're neglecting one essential issue that wins you soccer matches... scoring objectives.
The England star mentioned: "Once you play with 5 on the again and the three, like we arrange in the present day, possibly our strikers felt a bit remoted once we acquired the ball as much as them — they didn’t actually have sufficient round them, not sufficient help.”
Regardless of West Ham's league place, Moyes is protected for now, in response to The Telegraph.
Astonishingly, the Hammers overlords have taken encouragement from current performances.
Up subsequent are relegation rivals Nottingham Forest on the London Stadium on Saturday - a workforce they misplaced to 1-0 earlier on within the season.
Lose that six-pointer and also you'd anticipate Moyes could be dismissed - the Hammers merely can not afford to waste such fixtures with Manchester Metropolis, Arsenal, Liverpool and Man Utd nonetheless to come back.
However the Guardian studies that a lack of alternate options may hold Moyes in a job no matter Saturday's outcome.
Accessible managers will undoubtedly be reluctant to just accept a short-term firefighting deal which poses the danger of stamping a relegation on their CV.
Had the Hammers been extra ruthless pre-World Cup, their New 12 months fortunes might have been completely different and their attraction far larger.
A brand new supervisor would've had a six-week break to tinker on the coaching floor and 23 Prem video games to claw West Ham's squad again into high half competition, the place it needs to be.
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