Some key West Ham players appear to be sending a message to the board about David Moyes with their media actions.
And if they’re not then they are clearly tone deaf to the manager’s situation at the club as Moyes comes under intense pressure with West Ham in the bottom three.
Let’s start this off by acknowledging that West Ham’s players are just as culpable for the team’s demise over the last year as the manager.
Complacency has crept in and standards have dropped dramatically and the players, as individuals, need to look at themselves in the mirror too.
But there is no denying Moyes is now swimming against the tide at West Ham off the back of a year of miserable results with just 14 wins in the last 51 Premier League games.
Just five victories in 23 matches this season has left the Hammers likely needing five or six wins from the final 15 with Man City, Arsenal, Man United and Liverpool still to play among them.
You often hear in football that a manager has “lost the dressing room”. It would be churlish to suggest that is the case given the first half performance at Spurs was actually very decent.
But Moyes certainly appears to be losing the faith of certain individuals.
Some key West Ham players appear to be sending a message to the board about Moyes with their media actions.
Not just any players either, some key West Ham stars appear to have been speaking out on social media and to the press.
I use the word ‘appear’ because some are a touch more cryptic than others and, by their very nature, open to interpretation. But that in itself is an issue and not something we have seen before during Moyes’ West Ham tenure.
It is jarring because Moyes is renowned for running a seriously tight ship when it comes to discipline and players behaving in the right way. And his success of the previous two years has been built on a fantastic team spirit.
Michail Antonio, Vladimir Coufal, Pablo Fornals, Manuel Lanzini, youngster Divin Mubama, Alphonse Areola and captain Declan Rice have all appeared to be critical of Moyes in one way or another over the last month or so.
Antonio has spoken out about being unhappy at having lost his place to Gianluca Scamacca and said he could look to leave West Ham in January as a result, comments that did not go down well with Moyes.
Although the striker conveniently failed to acknowledge that this time last year he was imploring West Ham to sign another striker to share the goalscoring burden.
Coufal also publicly admitted his frustration at a lack of game time in an interview with Czech Republic outlet Football Club and has contradicted Moyes over his tactics.
Fornals, one of Moyes’ most trusted players of the last two seasons, has been a bit-part player this term. And after being named on the bench at Newcastle he posted a picture of him in West Ham training gear at St James’ Park with the caption “Never let anyone take your smile away”.
West Ham ace Lanzini took to Instagram last week to repost a really impressive statistic about him from the end of last season with a ‘baffled’ emoji.
Moyes responded to Lanzini by admitting he was struggling to give him game time as he is fifth choice in his position.
The midfielder’s wife then took to social media to urge Moyes to bring her husband on during the match against Spurs.
Some fans think young striker Divin Mubama showed his frustration at being left out of the squad for Spurs with a social media post at the weekend.
Moyes was critical of his players and said he would be looking at the colour of their eyes to see if they were up for a relegation fight after the defeat to Spurs.
And frustrated number two goalkeeper Areola appeared to aim a cryptic dig at the Hammers boss on Monday morning, posting a picture of himself with the comment “People like to be around those who give off positive energy…”
Perhaps most damning of all, though, is the comments of West Ham skipper Rice who, not for the first time this season, appeared to criticise Moyes’ tactics following the defeat to Spurs (The Sun).
Whether these were all digs at the manager or not, certain players are breaking ranks and the dressing room is far from harmonious.
The last thing West Ham need is players airing grievances online. But it seems pretty clear, whether you agree with their actions or not, they are trying to tell the board something.
It seems Mark Noble really was doing far more than most of us could have imagined in that dressing room before his retirement.
MORE WEST HAM NEWS
Management sensation reiterates West Ham job desire as pressure mounts on Moyes.
Newcastle man tells West Ham what Benitez would bring despite misconceptions.
Mark Noble caught out with Spurs badge by fan who filmed it.
Receive a digest of our best West Ham content each week direct to your mailbox
