What David Moyes Must Do to Rebuild Confidence in His Leadership

The team must be better prepared tactically than they were in the previous two matches, where Nuno Santo and Jose Mourinho outmanoeuvred Moyes.

Wolverhampton is well known for setting up in their two favoured formations: either a 3-5-2 or a 3-4-3 formation, with minor adjustments depending on the opponent.

Yet after the Wolves match, it was a telling sign that David Moyes declared that he had expected Adama Traore to start but instead the West Midlands club opted for their 3-5-2 set-up and Mark Noble and Tomas Soucek were overrun by the trio in the centre of the park for Wolves.

When Traore entered the match in the 64th minute, West Ham continued to play the same 4-4-2 formation that they had clearly devised to combat their opponent playing their 3-4-3. By this late in the game, a tired Aaron Cresswell was no match for the burly winger.

With weeks to prepare for the first match after lockdown, Moyes and his staff should have prepared separate tactics to combat the two formations Wolves always play, instead of relying on a hunch that Traore would start in the 3-4-3.

Against Tottenham, the manager was content to have Pablo Fornals drop closer and closer to his own goal to counteract Serge Aurier’s rampaging runs. While Fornals did help to support Aaron Cresswell, Spurs could relax knowing that West Ham would pose no threat to them on that side of the pitch.

Moyes was happy to sit back and invite pressure onto his own defenders, rather than recognizing that there was an opportunity to make a substitution and tactical change that would alleviate pressure on Cresswell.

If the manager had brought on a pacy player like Felipe Anderson (even though he’s been poor) or Xande Silva with the strict instructions to release down that side of the pitch as an outlet every time West Ham won the ball, then Aurier would have no choice but to stop his aggressive runs. Instead, Moyes made the conservative choice to defend at all costs.