Former England players Danny Murphy and Alan Shearer both believe that manager David Moyes deserves more time to get West Ham United back on track.
The Hammers currently sit 17th in the table and just a point clear of the relegation zone after a 2-0 loss to Brentford on Friday saw Moyes’ side suffer a fifth straight Premier League defeat for the first time since April 2017.
Moyes’ recent results with the Irons has put him under serious pressure and he is currently the favourite with the bookies’ to be the next Premier League manager to depart their job. However, football.london understands that Moyes is set to be given more time at the London Stadium.
READ MORE: David Moyes’ West Ham gamble backfires as Premier League relegation battle fears become reality
Former England and Liverpool midfielder Murphy, who scored once in nine caps for his country between 2001 and 2003, believes that Moyes deserves more time despite the current form and feels that the injuries to centre-back trio Nayef Aguerd, Kurt Zouma and Angelo Ogbonna have not helped.
“They’ve been on a terrible run and criticism is always fair when you are losing games of football in the Premier League, irrelevant of what you have done before,” Murphy told BBC’s Match of the Day . “But if any manager deserves extra time it is David Moyes for what he has done at this club.
“There’s the numbers for the game last night, look, there’s been some impatience with the West Ham fans in regards to his pragmatism and not changing the formation and the personnel a little bit.
“He’s moved (Lucas) Paqueta next to (Declan) Rice and left (Tomas) Soucek out, a lot of fans were asking for that. He’s changed the system, maybe for Brentford, maybe to try and get more possession in the opposing half, and last night was better.
“But I think the next three games are going to be defining for him because the fans are agitated. They’ve got Leeds, Wolves and Everton coming up, huge fixtures for them, but we know they’ve got the quality.
“The other factor is Aguerd, we’ve seen in the World Cup for Morocco, he’s been tremendous. He hasn’t kicked a ball yet, he’s nearly fit I think. Zouma’s been missing, Ogbonna’s only just come back. You’ve got to get those players fit.”
Another primary issue for the Hammers has been in scoring goals. So far this season, they have netted just 13 league goals from 17 games, only Wolverhampton Wanderers and Nottingham Forest have scored fewer.
Former England and Newcastle striker Alan Shearer, who is the Premier League’s all-time leading goalscorer, thinks that while goals have been an issue, he thinks Moyes deserves more time to fix West Ham’s form.
“I think that’s certainly been part of the problem, the players are there,” added Shearer. There’s no doubt about that, but if anyone deserves a bit of time, it’s David Moyes and he should get that.”
READ NEXT:
West Ham player ratings: Ivan Toney and Josh Dasilva goals put Hammers in real relegation battle
Every word West Ham’s David Moyes said on Brentford, relegation, pressure and Lucas Paqueta
Latest Premier League manager sack odds after David Moyes makes West Ham owners claim
David Moyes responds to West Ham pressure and makes ‘desperate’ admission after Brentford defeat
David Moyes gives worrying West Ham update on Maxwel Cornet but makes positive Kurt Zouma claim
