West Ham United manager David Moyes has accepted the recent criticism placed on him after years of praise for his achievements in the Premier League and Europe.
Prior to this season, two top seven finishes and a spot in the semi-finals of the Europa League saw West Ham gain plaudits from across the world of football, hoping to build on that this season after spending over £170million on nine new signings and competing in the Europa Conference League this season.
However, in the Premier League, they are doing anything but recreating their successes from the last two years and currently sit 15th and only outside of the relegation zone due to goal difference with ten games to go heading into Saturday’s trip across London to face Fulham.
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The recent criticism has led to reports that the game against the Cottagers is ‘must not lose’ for Moyes, who has regularly been linked with facing the sack in the past five months but has survived the cull so far.
Following multiple rounds of criticism, Moyes has said that after two years of plaudits, his experience and West Ham’s below par season mean he can handle what has been said about him.
Moyes says that he is having a taste of his own medicine at present, but appreciates that the criticism is just a part of being a football manager
“Of course you would rather it be the other way,” said Moyes. “You would rather people be talking about you positively. That would always be good.
“And I have to be fair, you boys and everybody else has spoken incredibly positively about me over the last few years because of the success and improvement at West Ham.
“But I also have to take my medicine and know that when I’m not doing well, I’m expecting to be spoken less well about. I don’t take it personally. I take it as part of the job and because I’m a wee bit older and more experienced, I’m more comfortable in my own shoes with it and am able to handle it better and put it in perspective.”
Moyes has regularly been in contact with, and had the backing of, West Ham co-owner David Sullivan during the turbulent spells in the Premier League this season.
Off the back West Ham’s 5-1 loss to Newcastle United at the London Stadium on Wednesday night, West Ham’s heaviest home league defeat since August 2019, Moyes spoke to Sullivan on Thursday morning.
Speaking on that conversation, Moyes said that he is aware that if West Ham keep losing matches, then Sullivan and West Ham’s hierarchy would be well within their right to make him the 13th sacked manager out of the Premier League this season.
However, Moyes also was right in saying that the season is currently on a knife’s edge, both in a relegation battle and with West Ham currently in the quarter-finals of the Europa Conference League, needing to get past Belgian side Gent and one of Anderlecht or AZ Alkmaar to reach a first European final.
“I spoke to him on Thursday morning. All good. David Sullivan. All fine,” Moyes added. “But I’m no different. You lose the games, you can lose your job and West Ham could do that, no problem. Because we’ve not got ourselves in a good enough position.
“But let’s be fair, where we are right now, if we finish the season and we stay up and we get to a European final, you might start saying, ‘hey, by the way, that’s been not a bad season for West Ham.’
“So we’re really on the cusp. It can go either way now. It’s on the cusp. It could go one way or the other. It’s a really fine balancing act at the moment."
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