Sky Sports pundit makes West Ham United relegation prediction, Paul Merson agrees but defends David Moyes
Paul Merson is backing David Moyes to keep his job as West Ham manager, but has admitted that they are in “big, big trouble” after the loss to Newcastle.
The Hammers were thumped 5-1 at home on Wednesday (5 April), leaving them outside the relegation zone on goal difference alone with reports suggesting Moyes must win against Fulham to save his job.
But while speaking on Sky Sports (7 April, 14:08), Merson defended the manager and claimed there is nobody else he’d rather have in charge in their current situation.
“If you get rid of David Moyes next week, say they didn’t beat Fulham which is a hard game, who do you bring in?” he said. “Who do you bring in?
“Because if I had to pick someone from a distance to save my club from getting relegated, I’m picking David Moyes over every single manager.
“If they get beat 3-1 we’re not really talking too much about West Ham. They got beat 5 and now it’s headlines that he’s got one more game. If that stays 3-1 then he’s got more than one game against Fulham.”
Robert Earnshaw wasn’t so sure though, and admitted he felt the team was in danger of being relegated despite their quality.
“I think they’re in big, big trouble,” he said.
“Yeah they are,” Merson agreed.
“West Ham right now, they’re kind of a team that are lacking confidence and you don’t know what team is going to show up on a Saturday or even a Wednesday.
“They’re in big, big trouble. They could go down. Seriously.”
Loyalty
At this point this is Paul Merson just being loyal to someone he knows and is friendly with.
West Ham have been on a downward spiral in the Premier League for well over a year, and Moyes has been at the helm the entire time.
His performance as manager is currently being overlooked because of the career he has had, and they’re not looking at the job he is currently doing at West Ham.
The team have stopped responding to his methods and his words, and it’s showing on the pitch. The players haven’t become bad overnight and we’ve added almost £200m worth of talent to a squad that finished 7th last year and reached a European semi-final.
Something needs to change and it has to be the manager at this point, otherwise it’s just blind faith that he can turn things around when he has shown no signs of doing that at any point this season.