Gerrard sacked by Aston Villa shines the spotlight squarely on Moyes after huge summer spend at West Ham

The Hammers begun the season really poorly, and were at one point being linked with a move to sack Moyes and bring Mauricio Pochettino into the London Stadium in his place.

Gerrard has been getting serious abuse from Aston Villa fans over the past few weeks, and that finally ended in his sacking last night.

Moyes, meanwhile, seems to have an army of protectors amongst the West Ham fanbase, and those in the media. But we’re surely at a stage now where Moyes is under real pressure…surely.

Steven Gerrard being sacked by Aston Villa means Moyes must feel pressure at West Ham

The Scot spent lavishly in the summer transfer window, splashing out £170 million on eight new players, including the club record signing of Lucas Paqueta for £51 million (The Evening Standard).

Moyes has really struggled to get a tune out of his team so far this season though. West Ham are sitting in 13th place in the table after a return just 11 points from 11 games. Not good enough.

Steven Gerrard got sacked by Villa, having taken just two points less than the Hammers. And Gerrard spent more than £100 million less than Moyes in the summer transfer window! (Transfermarkt).

Another example of this is Leicester City. They are just three points below us in the table, after spending £155 million less than us in the summer, yet fans are calling for Brendan Rodgers to be sacked!

There will be plenty of people out there saying that Moyes deserves more time to bed all of the new players in because of what he has done for this club since returning as manager just under three years ago.

And to an extent, I actually agree with that.

The thing is though, how long can Moyes dine out on his previous successes?

Will people be saying the same in 10 year’s time? ‘Don’t forget what he did for us back in 2019’. The ‘be grateful brigade’ seem to think that Moyes is immune from criticism.

Does he have credit in the bank? Yes. Is that credit getting close to going into overdraft territory? Yes.

In my honest opinion, I feel as though that credit was close to running out after we failed to finish inside the top four last season, having failed to signing anyone in January, and with clubs like Arsenal and Manchester United in huge transition.

Our exit from the Europa League at the semi-final stage was also a painful reminder that Moyes has not won anything aside from a second division title and a Community Shield trophy in his entire career as a manager.

You can criticise Moyes AND be grateful for the job that he has done over the past three years. The two things are not mutually exclusive.

After Steven Gerrard was sacked by Aston Villa last night, the pressure is really on the West Ham boss now.

The Hammers have four Premier League games before the break for there World Cup – Bournemouth at home, Manchester United away and then another two home games against Crystal Palace and Leicester respectively.

We need to be looking for an absolute minimum of nine points from those games.

Anything less, and questions might just start to be asked of the Scot from his most ardent of supporters.

Steven Gerrard being sacked by Aston Villa should be a big wakeup call for David Moyes. He’s not untouchable for what he has done for the club historically. And his huge outlay on transfers in the summer has now left him with absolutely nowhere to hide.

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