David Moyes has suggested that the uncertainty over his future could be a distraction for his players. West Ham’s manager is out of contract at the end of the season and, while he insisted he is comfortable with the situation, he acknowledged that the feeling in the dressing room could be different.
“That is a different story,” Moyes said. “Knowing what is happening and with people in charge is important. I am happy to do it and I’ve got a great relationship with the club so I don’t see any reason to panic about it.”
It was put to Moyes that his squad contains lots of experienced players who will know how to remain professional. “We have but we’ve got an awful lot of new players as well,” he said. “It is another story. We’ve got a lot of new players who are just getting bedded in really. We made a big change when we lost Declan [Rice], which was huge. The year before we lost Mark Noble and had to find our way without that.”
West Ham won the Europa Conference League last season, are through to the last 16 of the Europa League after topping their group and are ninth in the Premier League before hosting Wolves on Sunday. But they lost 5-0 to Fulham last weekend and there is a belief that Moyes will depart next summer. Discussions with the board over a new deal are yet to take place. Moyes, however, remains motivated.
“I’m hugely comfortable with it,” he said. “I’d work with no contract. The contract isn’t important for me, it’s enjoying the job and as long as I’m hopefully getting enough wins to keep the board satisfied then that is what I have to do. Over the three years we’ve done pretty well.”
Moyes believes that West Ham do not need to sign a striker in January, even though Jarrod Bowen has been playing up front this season. “I don’t think we do,” he said. “We’ve got Bowen, we’ve got Micky Antonio, we’ve got Danny Ings, we’ve got young Divin [Mubama].
“It’s not numbers we need. If it’s something else we need then finding it, having it at the right cost and getting it becomes a hard thing. There’s a huge amount of teams looking for a centre-forward right now and I don’t think there’s many sitting there waiting to be plucked.”
