The criticism that David Moyes faced at West Ham United still annoys Wayne Rooney.
There is little doubt that Moyes is a West Ham United legend because of that night in Prague, but there were constant criticisms about the Scotsman’s style of play.
West Ham have tried and largely failed to move on from him twice.
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Moyes has been succeeded at the club by all of Manuel Pellegrini, Julen Lopetegui, Graham Potter and Nuno Espirito Santo and none of them have delivered as much success.
Rooney has expressed his annoyance at the fact Moyes was constantly questioned during his time here in east London.
Rooney annoyed at how David Moyes was criticised at West Ham
Speaking on The Wayne Rooney Show, Rooney said: “The fans, the amount of times you hear people saying about the style of play and stuff like that, it does my head in.
“West Ham were effective, they were finishing high up the table. They were getting in Europe, they won a trophy. And then what happens is you go and get this young manager foreign manager in.
“You know, they can maybe talk a good game. And then it doesn’t work and you end up going back and bringing someone like Moyesy or Big Sam [Allardyce] in.”
Am I onto something or should we have blind trust in Nuno? 🤔
His subs scare the life out of me sometimes!
The England legend might have a point, to an extent. It’s easy to forget, however, that the timing was probably right for Moyes to leave the second time when he did.
Just because West Ham – a club who have constantly made poor decisions in recent years – have struggled to replace him doesn’t mean at least some of the criticism wasn’t warranted.
Moyes faced criticism about his style of play at West Ham and it would be hard for anyone to truly suggest that it was the most pleasing on the eye.
When it got results, it was easy to overlook. By the end, however, it wasn’t producing.
West Ham’s wider failings should not hide the fact that it was probably time to part ways.
That is not to say that Moyes is not a brilliant manager capable of doing fine work in the Premier League. His Everton side, after all, could qualify for Europe this season.
It is natural for fans to want more. They pay a lot of money and rightly want to see constant development, which wasn’t really happening towards the end of the Moyes era.
A club run in a more coherent way would surely have built on the fine work Moyes produced, rather than threatening to undo it.
That is the issue at West Ham, not the fact that Moyes left.
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