Moyes sack inevitable after latest Phillips calamity, Spurs shackled, more Newcastle questions

Is anyone still #MoyesIn after West Ham failed to show a response at Forest? Eddie Howe is in little immediate danger but that will change unless the Newcastle boss can find some answers…

Nottingham Forest 2-0 West Ham: Absence of Irons’ response fails condemns Moyes

As David Moyes entered the latest of countless four-game periods upon which his future West Ham employment depended, the lowest possible bar to clear was a discernible response to their Arsenal humiliation.

“Defensively we’ve not been as strong as what my teams have been used to,” he said after a 6-0 thrashing only half of the club’s fans actually witnessed live and in living colour. “I’ll always be the one who takes responsibility but there is a bit of responsibility that goes [to the players] where you need to stand up and be counted.”

Not sure he had Kalvin Phillips putting his hand up and getting booked twice in three minutes in mind, to be honest.

But the manager’s point neatly summed up the crux of the argument espoused by the admittedly dwindling ‘Moyes In’ crowd: how can he be blamed so heavily as to lose his job, when these defeats are being inflicted by individual error?

A counter-argument might be that Moyes continues to pick players such as Nayef Aguerd, who was turned so expertly yet easily by Taiwo Awoniyi for Nottingham Forest’s opening goal. Three of the centre-half’s previous four Premier League appearances had included 6-0, 5-0 and 3-0 losses so perhaps a 2-0 defeat actually marked some sort of improvement in those warped minds.

Read more: David Moyes insists he ‘wins more’ than ‘exciting’ managers linked with West Ham in defence of job

Moyes made two changes to the side Arsenal had dissected six days prior, giving the majority the opportunity to atone for their ways; they didn’t bother. Forest were one of precious few teams in form as poor as West Ham’s yet the hosts had the better early chances both in terms of quality and quantity.

Alphonse Areola being West Ham’s best player said quite enough. The two changes Moyes did make to his starting line-up – Michail Antonio and Kalvin Phillips in for Ben Johnson and Tomas Soucek – could not turn the wave of momentum. Phillips was tidy enough but ultimately ineffective in a malfunctioning team before his deserved red card, while Antonio offered nothing other than a few fouls and a reminder of just how dreadfully this squad has been assembled in certain areas.

Both helped capture the essence of West Ham’s abysmal January transfer window.

Awoniyi’s delightful touch and assured finish on the stroke of half-time, and the Nicolas Dominguez pass which preceded it, were the only moments of actual class for about 90 minutes, and suitably the actions on which the result was largely settled. Forest had more than twice as many shots as a deficit-chasing West Ham in the second half, a goal disallowed and a stoppage-time clincher from Callum Hudsoin-Odoi, capitalising on yet more comical defending.

For Nuno and Forest, three points to relieve some growing pressure and open up a slight gap to the Championship trapdoor. Moyes and West Ham needn’t look that far down over their shoulder but if their reaction to a six-goal battering at the hands of title challengers is to lose by two without scoring yet again – that was Forest’s first clean sheet in 14 matches – while having a man sent off against a side battling relegation, it might be time to call it a day.

West Ham’s form in all competitions in 2024:

🤝 vs Brighton

🤝 vs Bristol City

❌ vs Bristol City

🤝 vs Sheffield United

🤝 vs Bournemouth

❌ vs Manchester United

❌ vs Arsenal

❌ vs Nottingham Forest

Still waiting for a win. 🙃#NFOWHU pic.twitter.com/fJgQrvxzXI

— WhoScored.com (@WhoScored) February 17, 2024

Newcastle 2-2 Bournemouth: More questions, few answers for Howe

Eddie Howe can wonder all he wants about the secrets Dan Ashworth might take with him to Manchester United, but the Newcastle manager should probably have taken some more intel on Bournemouth with him when he left all those years ago.

In four league meetings with the Cherries since their conscious uncoupling, Howe has now drawn three times and lost once against his former side. And were it not for fellow Bournemouth alumnus Matt Ritchie scoring his first career goal since July 2020 – when Howe departed the south coast – it could have been considerably worse.

It was a quite laughable equaliser: Bruno Guimaraes’ hopeful floated delivery somehow caught Lloyd Kelly off guard and caused the defender to slip, allowing Matt Ritchie a free header six yards out which he weirdly planted into the ground and sideways, a choice so weird it forced Lewis Cook to kick the ball against Neto for Ritchie to tap in the rebound.

It was a fair result on balance from a faintly ridiculous game. Newcastle had more shots but Bournemouth probably had better ones, the consequence of one of those teams having no striker and the other having one of the best in the country.

Yet Dominic Solanke spent the first half being expertly denied. Newcastle’s first-half hero ultimately lived long enough to become the villain, Martin Dubravka slipping five minutes into the second half when receiving a routine pass to let the Bournemouth striker pounce and open the scoring.

Anthony Gordon restored parity from the spot after a shirt pull on a suspiciously-offside-looking Fabian Schar, before Antoine Semenyo’s delightful rasping finish 10 minutes later set Bournemouth up for a first win in six games.

But even the delirium sparked by Ritchie’s equaliser was soon dimmed. Schar was seen leaving the pitch with his arm in a makeshift sling, which opens up the bittersweet prospect of Newcastle supporters finally not having to put up with watching Dan Burn labour at left-back, but only because he has been moved to cover centrally. The injury crisis is back, the Champions League qualification pipedream lasted for about a week and Ritchie probably cannot be relied on for his goalscoring substitute cameos every game.

Fulham 1-2 Villa: Watkins shifts Villans mood

It’s been a rough week for Villa. It would have been understandable, if not acceptable, had they begun to wallow in their misery following a run of one win in six and, perhaps more worrying going forward, severe injury woes.

Boubacar Kamara’s season was ended last weekend during the late defeat to Manchester United by an ACL injury – Villa’s third of the campaign – and Diego Carlos’s hamstring twanged during training in midweek. The fact Unai Emery has not been able to pick a first-choice XI all term makes their success so far all the more impressive.

That fine work, though, has yielded few tangible rewards of late, which made the trip to Fulham a litmus test of their resilience. They passed. Perhaps not with flying colours, owing to a panicky close, but the fact they were able to weather the Cottagers’ storm makes a 2-1 win even more significant.

John McGinn, in a deeper role next to Douglas Luiz, did a passable impression of Kamara, but their victory owes most the class of Ollie Watkins.

Only Mo Salah has more goal involvements than the Villa striker this season. Away from home, its 13 in 13 games. His first was was a spin and shot after pouncing on a loose ball; the second rounded off a flowing move through the heart of Fulham after losing Issa Diop in the build-up.

Emery will be concerned how Villa made life difficult for themselves. Clement Lenglet and Emi Martinez dithered to allow Rodrigo Muniz a goal back and from a position of authority, Villa began to fret. But Martinez bailed them out late on to give the Villans a foothold to rediscover some momentum.

23 – Ollie Watkins has been involved in 23 Premier League goals this season (13 goals, 10 assists), only Dwight Yorke in 1995-96 (27) has been involved in more in a single season in the competition for Aston Villa. Hero. pic.twitter.com/US3VB0ineq

— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) February 17, 2024

Tottenham 1-2 Wolves: Stodgy Spurs shackled after latest slow start

Defend deep, look to hit on the break and seize on set-pieces. On the face of it, Wolves’ win at Tottenham was the epitome of the smash and grab away win at one of the big boys. But this latest triumph for Gary O’Neil’s side deserves far greater context.

Wolves were the better side, deserving of the latest win in a run of six unbeaten on the road. Joao Gomes’ brace, a header from a corner and a fine finish from a flying break, sandwiched Dejan Kulusevski’s leveller immediately after half-time during the only spell Wolves weren’t on it.

That is how you would describe Spurs all afternoon. With an attacking side stronger than most Ange Postecoglou has been able to pick since November, the hosts failed to gel. Wolves shackled James Maddison and their reliance on him to break opposition lines will alarm Postecoglou.

Spurs’ other sources of creativity tend to be found in the full-back areas but both their first-choice picks were missing. And, especially on the right, it showed. Emerson Royal is no Pedro Porro, though we did not need a clumsy performance here to understand that.

At least Spurs have a fortnight to get Porro and Destiny Udogie fit, during which time Postecoglou must also find a remedy for their slow starts. They overturned first-half deficits against Brighton and Brentford. A third consecutive home fightback looked less likely against a Wolves side who continue to defy expectations.

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