Mother Theresa and the circling vultures! Published 13/04/18 on Irons United

For those fans in the West Ham dome who have engaged with the plight of the club over the last few years, they are reaching a summit point and their oxygen is about to run out. There can only be one fate…and this is no sense of euphoria as the brain starves itself of vital gases…this is the reality of being lost on the mountainside and frozen in time.

The club have searched for a saviour that would enact a miracle and bring salvation, but fans are yet to find anyone of note, nor can the local diocese recommend a mortal to be canonised…The club do not have a Greenwood, Moore or Lyall whom would be made saintly…however they have a Moyes, Arnautovic and Pearce…will that do?

The tail end of this season is all about surviving in the Premier League, however fans cannot help themselves but look forward to the summer and debate which manager will be at the helm, which players will be at the club come the start of next season…and most importantly what kind of investment will David Sullivan and David Gold, along with the rest of the board, make to substantially reinforce and improve the squad?

David Moyes, for all of his detractors, has indeed performed satisfactorily since he took charge from Slaven Bilic who had lost traction with the club and the players. He certainly hasn’t set the West Ham world alight, however he has enabled some level of stability within the team, albeit somewhat in a negative approach, but he has struggled with the challenges of a dysfunctional squad beset by injuries and poor form…and from owners who have not supported him in the transfer market, regardless if he admirably plays the politician in news conferences.

In the last two games, he has steered the team to gain a vital four points…and he would charge his consistent players in Noble, Arnautovic, Zabaletta and Ogbonna to lead the squad in the next games to continue in that vein, however there are still more hurdles to overcome before anyone can breath a huge sigh of relief.

This Monday night, the Hammers entertain fellow strugglers Stoke City at the London Stadium and all claret and blue fans will be hoping for a win and another three points, however the team much not think themselves safe just yet as the ogre of complacency can upset the most steadfast plans and manifest itself in weaken bladders in the sight of pithy pots.

Although the squad has been worn down to the bare bones, there is hope that Lanzini and Cresswell will be fit for the encounter and Andy Carroll may even make an early return to the bench since being injured…again! However, Fernandes is still an uncertainty after his less than illustrious performance against Chelsea. The biggest talking point for the Hammers faithful is whether indeed Moyes will choose to start with Hernandez alongside Arnautovic and whether Lanzini will be played alongside or in fact instead of Mario, who also had a pitiful game in the last outing.

Moyes must be positive and challenge any Stoke aspirations as soon as the whistle blows but also respect the pottery folk who have had a resurgence in form of late under Paul Lambert.

Although the results still haven’t gone their way, he will be feeling hopeful that he can encourage his finer players like Allen and Shaqiri to pull on the team’s bootstraps to be vengeful after they succumbed to a West Ham drubbing earlier in the season…and to silence the swaggering Arnautovic who took great pleasure in taunting the Stoke City fans in return.

Perhaps this is where Moyes has faltered the most this season in that he has not been ambitious enough to lunge for a win in every game. Whilst his defensive bias is noble to help steady the sinking ship that was West Ham under Bilic, who was alarmingly let down by the players and the board in equal measure, he has also failed to take advantage of probability and has settled for caution rather than adventure.

Fans will now be looking to the end of the season, regardless of the result against Stoke, for the team to pick up enough points to earn their merit badges for the year. However, their antics have not been so wholesome as to help an old lady across the road but rather kick her walking stick away and force her to venture across the dual carriageway in rush hour traffic! They now have an opportunity to somewhat redeem themselves and deliver performances that would give fans at least the bittersweet taste of placing somewhere just above 18th position…but can they do it?

Moyes has the challenge of maintaining the momentum of the last two games, which has mainly been a failing all season, but he also has to find it within himself to find a place for Hernandez to start and provide the ammunition for him to fire at goal. This is a time to set aside differences and personal preferences and do what is simply best for the team and the club as a whole. If reports are true, then Hernandez has already made soundings to leave in the summer, which is a travesty in itself as this is the first time in years that the club has found a natural goalscorer, but successive managers have failed to utilise his talents to the best effects. 

Is this to be Moyes’s legacy? To leave in the summer and have Hernandez leave too? One would have to go as their partnership will not yield fruit, however one would hope it is Moyes who would be thanked for his toil and sent on his way with the fan’s blessing, rather than let a natural poacher slip through the club’s fingers…surely this couldn’t happen…could it?

The fans have been waiting ready to pick the meat off the bones and deliver their final verdict on the season, whilst other pretenders to the manager’s throne would lie in wait, ready to land a big job with a handsome salary to match. The squad has been stripped of purpose but has rallied in defiance, the street urchins that were disregarded by the club and the fans needed someone to take them under their wing, nurture and care for them…Moyes has done that. 

He has been the Mother Theresa whilst all around were the circling vultures ready to send him asunder. He must find one last charge until the end of the season and steer the good ship West Ham away from the rocks and onto sandy beaches…then step off and let a new admiral take over. Anything other than that would be ungainly, ungodly and ‘un-saintly’.