Things are going from bad to worse for West Ham and David Moyes with the team’s recent 5-1 thrashing by Newcastle keeping them locked in a relegation battle, and news that one of the club’s strikers has praised another manager for being “unbelievable” isn’t likely to go down well.
Something is clearly amiss at the London Stadium this season because you don’t go from being a strong Europa League candidate to a relegation-threatened club in such a short space of time.
The players are responsible for what happens on the pitch with the manager ultimately taking the hit if things don’t go well.
Moyes is incredibly lucky that the Hammers have had a great Europa Conference League campaign, as their 10 wins from 10 in that competition, per UEFA, is arguably what’s keeping him in the West Ham hot-seat at this point.
Rumours of dressing room unrest at his methods per The Guardian have to be a major indicator of just how bad things are behind the scenes of the club at present.
Perhaps that’s why Michail Antonio, speaking on his Footballer’s Football Podcast, just happened to throw in a few complimentary words about recently dismissed Leicester City coach, Brendan Rodgers.
“If you look at his stats and how well he’s done at Leicester, he had a bad year,” the striker said.
“Him dropping into the bottom three right now, I understand why they want to switch it up but he’s an unbelievable manager.
“The quality he has. I had him at Reading and he’s up there with one of the best I’ve ever had. Tactically, he does it all.”
It can’t be sheer coincidence that Antonio has decided to make such remarks at this point in time.
Even if West Ham miraculously manage to escape the drop this season, it’s hard to imagine Moyes still being in charge at the start of the 2023/24 campaign.