Stuart Pearce delivers verdict on mediocre West Ham United live on talkSPORT
Stuart Pearce believes that if West Ham United win the European Conference League it would be a “great achievement”, but admitted this season the Premier League campaign has been “mediocre” under David Moyes’ leadership.
The Hammers stretched their unbeaten record in Europe this season with a comfortable 2-0 win over AEK Larnaca on Thursday night (9 March), as they continue to hunt for the club’s first piece of silverware since 1980.
Despite being in the box seat for a place in the last-eight of the European Conference League, Moyes’ team continue to struggle in the Premier League, where they sit just a point above the relegation zone with 13 games of the season remaining.
Speaking live on White and Jordan on talkSPORT (Friday 10 March), Pearce admitted that Moyes would be disappointed with his side’s performances domestically this season after consecutive top-seven finishes in the past two years.
When asked by Jim White if winning a trophy would turn a mediocre season into an incredible campaign, Pearce replied: “I think the word incredible is stretching it slightly.
“They’ve been disappointing, make no mistake, by West Ham’s two last seasons and their performances.
“You admit they’ve been mediocre?” White asked.
“It’s been very mediocre this year,” Pearce replied. “They’ll be disappointed with that, David will be disappointed with certainly where they are in the league right now at present.
“But to get their hands on silverware, if they do that at the end of the season – at training last year at the London Stadium I said to David, ‘look at the achievements of this football club over well over 100 years’ – I think it’s three trophies they’ve got to their name so to put another trophy up in that stadium in Dave’s tenure would be a great achievement.”
Priorities
Maintaining the club’s unbeaten run in Europe is a nice opportunity to boost confidence within Moyes’ ranks, but it ultimately won’t be where he is judged come to the end of the season.
If the Irons were to be relegated from the Premier League but win the European Conference League, it would still be seen as a bitter disappointment and would probably cost Moyes his job.
With the likes of Lucas Paqueta, Declan Rice and Gianluca Scamacca within his ranks this season, everyone within West Ham United would have hoped for far more success and a top-ten finish at a minimum.
However, good things must always come to an end, and it was always going to be tough to continue the brilliant form of the past two campaigns.
A deep run in the European Conference League is a nice distraction for the Hammers fanbase, but Moyes must get his priorities straight and primarily focus on Premier League survival in the coming months.