West Ham United lost 2-0 away at Watford on Sunday afternoon.
Pundit Ian Wright has told The Sun that West Ham United manager David Moyes needs to take inspiration from the film ‘Any Given Sunday’ in order to save the club from relegation.
The Hammers moved to appoint Moyes as their new manager earlier this month, having sacked manager Slaven Bilic following a 4-1 home defeat at the hands of Liverpool.
Moyes took charge of his first game as Hammers boss on Sunday, but fell to a 2-0 defeat away at Watford, with Will Hughes and Richarlison both on the scoresheet at Vicarage Road.
On another day, West Ham may have claimed something, given key chances for Marko Arnautovic, Cheikhou Kouyate and Manuel Lanzini, but they left empty-handed.
The Hammers now lie 18th in the Premier League table with just nine points from 12 games, one point adrift of safety, with only Crystal Palace recording fewer wins this season.
Moyes faces a tough task turning things around at the London Stadium, and ex-Hammers striker Ian Wright has now offered some peculiar advice to the Scot.
Wright has told The Sun that Moys must ‘channel his inner Al Pacino’, drawing inspiration from the film ‘Any Given Sunday’ in order to galvanise a team by emphasising the importances of fine margains.
Wright added that Moyes does have better players at his disposal than he did with Sunderland, and feels there was in fact some promise from the defeat at Watford, before suggesting that he wants to see Manuel Lanzini featuring behind Andy Carroll and Javier Hernandez in attack.
“They may be an unlikely couple, but David Moyes must channel his inner Al Pacino if he is to drag West Ham to safety,” said Wright. “If the new Hammers boss was under any illusion about the size of his task ahead, he certainly isn’t now after kicking off with a 2-0 defeat at Watford. But there were signs of optimism at Vicarage Road on Sunday — not least three clear-cut chances which, had any of them gone in, may have seen a different result. That’s where that Pacino comparison comes in. He starred in a famous movie called Any Given Sunday, in which he plays a veteran coach of a struggling American football team. In it, he makes a really passionate speech to his players before a crunch match, with the unforgettable phrase: “We can climb out of hell an inch at a time . . . we fight for those inches.” I know we’re talking Hollywood make-believe, but the principles are exactly the same.”
“It’s all about the inches. Another couple either way and he could easily have been celebrating his first game with a win. But it’s about putting in the graft as well. Then Moyes has to shore up that defence because, if they’re not scoring goals, you certainly can’t afford to be letting them in down at the other end. Moyes was desperate to get back into football and — despite the Hammers being in the bottom three — they DO have better players than he had at Sunderland. The one thing he did have up there was a goalscorer, in Jermain Defoe. But he’s got a couple this time, too, in Andy Carroll and Javier Hernandez. The key is keeping them fit. With that pair up top, and Manuel Lanzini just behind to mop up anything that breaks, there’s no reason why they can’t start scoring again,” he added.
Receive exclusive football transfer news and updates twice a week to your mailbox
