Five things David Moyes must address to keep West Ham in the Premier League, including the fans and Manuel Lanzini

West Ham is a club that needs fixing if it is to stay in the top flight, and Moyes has plenty of places to start if he is going to survive relegation after replacing Slaven Bilic

David Moyes already has plenty of work to do to turnaround West Ham's season (Getty)

David Moyes arrives at West Ham United with the club in the middle of a relegation battle, sitting 18th in the Premier League table and harbouring a volatile atmosphere inside the London Stadium.

The former Everton, Manchester United and Sunderland manager returns to the top flight on a short-term contract with one aim: to keep West Ham in the Premier League.

Dropping down to the Championship would be a disastrous prospect for West Ham given their move last year to the 66,000-capacity London Stadium, and it would also signal another damning chapter in Moyes' career following last season's relegation with Sunderland.

The 54-year-old Scot replaces Slaven Bilic, with the Croatian sacked on Monday after winning just two league games this season.

Here, we look at his in-tray, highlighting the five biggest things that he must address to keep West Ham in the Premier League.

Organise the defence

Slaven Bilic’s West Ham were the worst organised team in the Premier League. They have conceded 23 in the league so far this season – the worst defence, worse even than Crystal Palace – and that is what cost Bilic his job.

Their individual defenders are not disastrously bad, and nor is Joe Hart, but with no real direction from Bilic on the training ground they were easy prey for almost any opposition. They even conceded three goals at home to Brighton and Hove Albion.

Moyes built his reputation at Everton on organisation, drilling the team on shape, marking and set pieces. And that is exactly what they need to have any hope of survival.

West Ham's defence is one of the most suspect in the league (Getty)

Be unrealistic and dishonest

In most walks of life realism is helpful and honesty is a virtue. But not in football management.

Moyes was remarkably realistic and honest when he showed up at Sunderland, admitting that they were in a relegation fight and that there was very little they could do to save themselves. “To suggest that a player we might bring in would be making a big difference,” he said in the January transfer window, “would not be correct”. But this became a self-fulfilling prophecy, as he failed to lift players or fans and sure enough Sunderland were relegated.

What they needed was a bit of bluster and bravado, someone to tell them they could save themselves, as unlikely as it looked. Sometimes lying is the only way.

Moyes' early admission that Sunderland could be relegated did not go down well (Getty)

Beat the bad teams

Slaven Bilic’s best moments at West Ham were against the big boys but they struggled in the games they should have won. There is little chance now of this team beating anyone good so the priority must be the ugly grind: they start with Watford away, Leicester at home and then Everton away.

Next month among far harder games they have Stoke away, Bournemouth away and Newcastle at home. Those are the matches when they need to sneak into the lead and dig in, rather than blowing the 2-0 lead as they did against Palace recently.

They are not going to play their way to safety, but they might just scrap their way there.


 West Ham must look to win their early games 
 (Getty)

Get the best out of Manuel Lanzini

West Ham’s best player, with all due respect to Javier Hernandez, is Manuel Lanzini. He has the ability to cut teams open with his incisive passing but West Ham never looked well set up under Bilic to get the best out of him.

What they need is a foothold on possession, and good movement up front, to set up the runners for Lanzini to pick out. If they can do that they should start creating chances in open play again, something they have struggled to do for a while.

That should help to keep them up and if Lanzini shows what he can do, they can sell him for a big profit in the summer too.


 Getting the best out of Manuel Lanzini will help West Ham's cause (Getty)
 (AFP/Getty Images)

Win the fans back over

The West Ham fans have been divided between pro and anti Slaven Bilic factions, and the appointment of Moyes, after three failures in a row, has not exactly captured their imagination.

Moyes will have to win over fans that are already unconvinced by his abilities (Getty)

But without the enthusiasm of the crowd it is very difficult to see how West Ham can get the home wins that they need to stay up. That means being confident and assertive but also winning. For as long as the London Stadium feels like an away ground, West Ham are in trouble.