West Ham have seen the perfect example of Moyesball
Something occurred to me as I watched Nottingham Forest defeat a rattled West Ham 2-0 at The City Ground. It rapidly became clear that I was seeing the flawless execution of David Moyes’ methods; regrettably, Forest were employing them.
The Robin Hoods/Friar Tucks (or whatever their moniker was) were structured on defence, combative in midfield, quick on the sides, and had a mobile and powerful No. 9 in attack. If David Moyes could build his ideal team, it would be Nottingham Forest.
David Moyes’ counter-attacking team is a utopian ideal that I am sure he envisions at the end of his endeavor. Unfortunately, it never expresses itself because Moyes builds teams too slowly. Moyes would never have bought Hudson-Odoi or Elanga, regardless of how fantastic they were for Forest. He’d discovered defects in their game or persona, and the deal would never be completed.
The same could be said for Murillo, who plays great center defence. Eighteen months ago, the centre-back was playing under-20 football in Brazil, and signing and playing him required a significant leap of faith. If West Ham had signed the player at the time, he would have only played in the EFL Trophy. Moyes has stated that center defenders should be mature and experienced. However, Murillo appears to be the best of our four center defenders.
Forest is a quick counter-attacking team with impressive physicality. I believe Moyes would have admired Nuno Espírito Santo’s team. However, his adulation would have been ephemeral and swiftly forgotten. Many of the Forest players have been thrust together in the previous 12 months, which is not something we’ll see again.
Forest is currently seeking players like Awoniyi. David Moyes is still waiting to see who can replace Gianluca Scamacca.
