David Moyes insists he remains “totally” confident of turning around West Ham’s form ahead of another potentially key fixture against Fulham this weekend.
The Scot has been under constant pressure for several months now with his team having gone from top-six challengers in the Premier League and Europa League semi-finalists to contesting a fierce relegation battle despite a significant summer transfer outlay.
Just as they had done already this term against the likes of Nottingham Forest and Everton, another vital victory in a six-pointer against bottom club Southampton last weekend appeared to ease some of that mounting tension, lifting the Hammers out of the bottom three.
However, West Ham were quickly brought back down to earth in midweek after a series of horrendous defensive errors contributed to a 5-1 home thrashing by high-flying Newcastle that saw the gloom descend over the London Stadium once more and renewed doubts whispered over Moyes’ future.
Some reports have labelled Saturday’s trip to Craven Cottage as another must-not lose fixture for Moyes, whose team currently sit three spots above the relegation zone in 15th on goal difference but level on points with all of Everton, Nottingham Forest and Bournemouth below in one of the most closely-contested relegation battles in top-flight history.
Asked if he was confident ahead of the the meeting with Fulham that he could still turn things around at West Ham, a confident Moyes simply replied: “Totally.”
After the humbling loss to Newcastle, Moyes reiterated his desire to stay at the club but admitted his job is on the line and said: “I’ve left jobs at times in the past and if this one happened then I would have to go with that.”
Quizzed if that admission led to any talks with the board, he said on Friday: “No. I was just trying to make a point that we’re in an industry where you can quite easily lose your job, that’s the way it happens.
“If you’re not winning then it’s always possible. I’m no different from anybody else and I’ve just got to try and get on with the job, try and win the next game.
“Everton was must-not lose and we won that one. Nottingham Forest was must-not lose and we won that one. Then it was Southampton and we had to win that one.
“When you’ve put that title on us we’ve stood up and been counted. If you’re giving me that title again then I hope we can stand up and be counted this time.”
Pressed if he still needs the pressures associated with such a stressful job, Moyes, who turns 60 later this month, said: “Of course I need it. This is like a drug.
“This is why you see Roy Hodgson coming back when he’s 75, Neil Warnock coming back. So many people who are in the game and continuing to stay on the journey they are on because they have a great love of the game and want to stay in it.
“But part of being a football manager is you don’t always win all the time, sometimes you have to lose. You have to try and learn to deal with it and when you do lose you have to learn how to bounce back.”
Moyes also accepts that he is responsible for the raised expectations that have followed a couple of strong seasons for West Ham, admitting: “I think a manager’s job is to raise expectations.
“We’ve raised expectations, any manager who goes into a club has to do that. Then you have to live with the raised expectations and we’ve not done that this year as well as we should have done.
“I can totally understand the supporters [leaving early against Newcastle], no problem at all.”
West Ham’s players were subject to severe criticism after their error-strewn display against Newcastle, though Moyes is confident they will recover quickly with key league games on the horizon and a two-legged Europa Conference League quarter-final against Belgian side Gent.
“I’ll tell you one thing about the group of players we’ve got - they’re fantastic lads. Great boys, really honest and committed,” he said.
“They’ve done a brilliant job over the last few seasons for us, the way they’ve worked and the results they’ve got. You expect to see that from them, it doesn’t change. They’ve not suddenly become bad players. You can make the odd individual mistake that happens in football, but we have to get past it now.”
