West Ham boss David Moyes has told his struggling side they must “buck up” their ideas ahead of Wednesday’s trip to Leeds, but insists he feels the full support of the club’s board amid speculation over his future.
The Hammers are on a dreadful run of five successive Premier League defeats either side of the World Cup that has left them outside the relegation zone only on goal-difference.
The mid-season break has so far failed to produce improvement, with back-to-back losses to Arsenal and Brentford since the league’s resumption but Moyes remains certain his side have the quality to pull clear of a relegation scrap.
“We're not at the halfway point yet,” he said. “The way it’s worked out, sometimes it feels as if we’ve got there. We’re not halfway through the season yet.
“We have to buck up, we have to do better, we have to play better. We have to find a way of winning games, which is the key.
“I've been in this position twice before and we did a very good job. I don’t think we’re in that position, because I think we’ve got a good team. I think we’ve got a better team now than we’ve ever had. We just need to show that form.”
Moyes has credit in the bank at West Ham having steered the club clear of relegation after taking the job for a second time in late 2019, then guiding successive top-seven finishes and last year’s run to the Europa League semi-finals.
The Scot accepted following the Brentford defeat that he is under pressure, and the likes of Thomas Tuchel, Mauricio Pochettino and Marcelo Bielsa have been linked with the club.
However, after being backed to the tune of around £170million in the transfer market last summer, Moyes says he still feels the full backing of co-charimen David Gold and David Sullivan.
“I’m feeling really good,” Moyes said. “I’ve had great support from David Sullivan and the board who have been right behind me and it’s really good because you know you can put yourself under pressure a little bit, but overall, they’ve been very, very good, very supportive and backing me.
“The idea is that we go [to Leeds], be positive, which we have been, play as well as we did last week if we can do, cut out a couple of mistakes and hopefully, take the chances when they drop to us.”
