West Ham: How David Moyes can save his job after a nightmare start to the season

After receiving praise from across the football world for leading West Ham to back-to-back European qualifiers, David Moyes has had a nightmare start to the current Premier League season.

Despite a productive summer on the transfer market, Moyes’s side were unable to replicate the successes of previous campaigns and found themselves slipping dangerously close to the relegation zone.

But a point against Leeds offers hope of a fresh start in 2023, provided Moyes can do at least some of the following…

A POINT AT LAST

This will be the first positive that David Moyes could take away from West Ham’s trip to Elland Road. West Ham had not won a Premier League point since late October before facing Leeds, losing all five games since beating Bournemouth 2-0.

Just stopping the rot would have been welcome for Moyes and West Ham. It might have been better to have turned the game around either side of half time to lead 2-1, but given the way they were at one point, it’s a good place to start.

SCAMACCA AND PAQUETA MUST CONTINUE MARKING

This was a bit more like the sort of thing Moyes might have had in mind when he spent more than £150m on fresh faces last summer, the ones he brought in to help define the games for West Ham.

Yes, it wasn’t a win, but they did secure a much-needed point courtesy of West Ham’s two biggest signings.

Lucas Paquetá scored West Ham’s first from the penalty spot, which could be a confident first goal for the club for the Brazilian midfielder, and striker Gianluca Scamacca ended his goal drought with a fine finish to briefly put West Ham 2-1 up.

He has shown his quality in flashes but this was a first goal after 10 games without scoring. More of the same please from now until the end of the season.

HE TAKES AGUERD TO HIS BEST WORLD CUP

Speaking of transfers, Nayef Aguerd finally made his full Premier League debut for West Ham at Leeds.

Any hope Moyes may have had of building his defense around Aguerd has been dashed by injury since his £30m arrival from Rennes, so seeing him back would have been another bonus for Moyes.

It wasn’t a full debut for Aguerd, but he showed something of what he is capable of during the World Cup for Morocco, one of the teams in the tournament in Qatar. Now that he is fully fit again, West Ham are hoping to see something similar from now on in their burgundy and blue.

STOPS GETTING HIT ON THROW-INS

One worrying trend that Moyes will want to check is West Ham’s apparent vulnerability to throw-ins.

In a strange quirk, the last four goals they have conceded, against Brentford and then Leeds, have all come from throw-ins.

There could be all sorts of reasons for that, but a meticulous coach like Moyes will want to get to the bottom of it.

SOLVE THE MIDFIELD ENIGMA

Not too long ago, West Ham seemed to have things going well in central midfield with Declan Rice partnered with Tomas Soucek.

Soucek’s slump in form over the past two seasons has meant that pairing isn’t as effective as it once was.

Moyes attempted a midfield three at Leeds, a rare Premier League setup, with Rice trailing Paquetá and Soucek, but that left Rice overworked defensively and at times exposed.

As was the case when he played with Mark Noble and in that aforementioned partnership with Soucek, Rice’s best seems to come when he has someone to share the central midfield workload with.

The search for the ideal solution in midfield continues.

KEEP DESCENT FEARS AWAY

There is some sympathy for how things have fared for Moyes this season but, with West Ham’s position, it’s inevitable that some at the club will start to feel concerns about what might happen if they go under.

Moyes won’t want those fears to spread too far because of the impact increased negativity could bring. Build on the point at West Ham over the next few weeks and those worries will start to fade.