Successive defeats at the Etihad and Anfield were not without encouragement, but beating Southampton on Saturday now looks non-negotiable
It was hard not to feel just a little bit sorry for David Moyes when his West Ham team briefly led at
Liverpool on Monday. There was a certain inevitability about the home side recovering and securing all three points, but at least West Ham had put themselves in a position to win, less than a week after their impersonation of a doormat against
Manchester City at the Etihad.
Moyes has famously never won at Anfield; in fact his lamentable record against what might loosely be described as top-six sides in
England is one of the biggest flaws in his managerial CV. Even at Everton, where he was unquestionably a success on balance over 11 years, his innate caution was getting on supporters’ nerves by the end. West Ham did not exactly throw caution to the wind at Anfield – that would have been very anti-Moyes and far too risky a strategy against a team drilled to capitalise on every turnover of possession – but at least they put out a side that seemed to believe it could achieve a result. That approach made far more sense than going to Manchester City and hoping Kevin De Bruyne and Co would not manage to score, and if they are going to climb away from the bottom three West Ham are going to need much more of it.