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West Ham United in crosshairs of Garth Crooks in 'jaded' evaluation
With the Qatar World Cup now arrived, West Ham find themselves on the brink of the relegation zone and Garth Crooks has taken aim.
The BBC pundit has not been impressed by David Moyes’ side in recent weeks which has seen them win just one of their previous six matches in the Premier League.
A perfect 18 points in the Europa Conference League doesn’t do much to paper over the cracks at the London Stadium and Crooks suggests the break has come at an ideal time for the manager.
“West Ham looked jaded against Leicester – they are another club struggling with their schedule and may benefit from the break,” he said. “Perhaps the World Cup has come at a good time for the club and especially for David Moyes.”
Start again
As quickly as possible, West Ham have to completely forget about the first portion of this season and come back after Christmas with a new lease of life and purpose.
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Moyes has been coming under increasing pressure at the London Stadium as the form and club drop down the Premier League standings but now he has five weeks off, he can recharge himself and then do the same for the squad.
Many of the stars will be in Qatar for the World Cup which will leave a threadbare squad at Rush Green for him to work with but every Premier League side will have a similar problem.
The break is more important for the manager than it is for the players who desperately need a recharge of their batteries before a hectic end to the season in 2023.
The board won’t be considering a change of manager until after the January transfer window at the very least and if the Scot can rediscover the form that saw West Ham earn back-to-back European qualification then he won’t be going anywhere anytime soon.