Tony Cottee suggests David Moyes must drop some regular West Ham United players
Tony Cottee has suggested that David Moyes needs to drop some of the regular West Ham players as the club look to bounce back after a poor start.
Writing his column for the West Ham Way (27 September), Cottee feels that Moyes must be wondering what his best formation would be.
The Hammers find themselves 18th in the League table, but the Hammers legend is confident that Moyes will turn it around.
“It appears at the moment (and I`m only looking in from the outside) that David Moyes is asking himself “what is my best team?”. As I explained in my last column, it does take time for players to settle in but we are now at the end of September and players are now as fit as they are going to be training wise,” wrote Cottee.
“Match fitness you obviously get from playing and all players need 6 games on the trot to get up to full speed. So, the Manager is now looking at bringing in some of the new signings to play, whilst keeping the nucleus of the team in place that has been so successful these last 2 seasons.
“It’s not an easy thing to do at the moment and we`ve all got our own opinions on what is our best team but I do believe that Moyesy needs to go back to basics.
“I think his preferred formation is 4-2-3-1, so just pick the best players for each position and give them a run of consecutive PL games but use the squad for the Conference games. There`s no doubt that some of the regular players need to be left out due to a loss of form and we need to try something different to get results but I`m confident the Manager will do that.”
Spot on
The results have been really poor for the Hammers, but the Hammers board have complete faith in Moyes to rectify the situation.
Usually, when a team makes a poor start, the owners tend to panic. However, the situation of Moyes is different.
He took the charge of a side that was fighting for survival a few seasons back. The former Manchester United boss has completely transformed the squad, and the club came close to securing a top-four finish in their previous two campaigns.
This summer, the Hammers have spent big on new players, with Moyes bringing in as many as eight new faces.
It is expected that the new signings will take time to settle down, and Cottee is right that Moyes is trying to find out the best formation/system for his side.
Having said that, the results matter, and West Ham cannot afford to drop too many points now that it becomes almost difficult for them to bridge the gap with teams that are aiming for a top-six finish.