West Ham’s big David Moyes and Slaven Bilic debate settled by key statistics

Follow us on Google Discover

Debate has been raging among fans and pundits as to whether West Ham United are better or worse since Slaven Bilic was replaced by David Moyes.

Bilic was sacked by West Ham after overseeing a disastrous start to the new Premier League season which yielded just two wins from 11 games.

Moyes replaced the Croatian to much apathy from Hammers supporters and has not fared much better.

The Scot’s first three games against Watford, Leicester City and Everton were billed as crucial given West Ham’s daunting December schedule which includes consecutive games against Manchester City, Chelsea and Arsenal with another trip to Arsenal in the Carabao Cup and a trip to face rivals Tottenham Hotspur to come.

But those games saw West Ham take just a single point leaving them in the relegation zone with an uphill task to secure survival.

There has been no ‘new manager bounce’ since Moyes’ arrival leaving a lot of West Ham supporters uttering the words ‘we told you so’ to the club’s owners David Sullivan and David Gold.

Many feel the club might as well have stuck with Bilic rather than appoint Moyes given his recent failures.

But the debate looks to have been settled by new statistics from Sky Sports comparing West Ham in all the key areas under Bilic and Moyes.

And on average West Ham are worse under Moyes than Bilic in four of six crucial elements of their play.

Under Bilic West Ham’s average possession was 48.7% while under Moyes it is ever so slightly less at 48.6%.

The Hammers registered 10.5 shots per game under Bilic but have managed just 8.3 under Moyes.

West Ham’s tackle success rate was higher under Bilic at 67.2% than Moyes (66.7%).

One big area of concern under Bilic was a lack of high intensity sprints with an average of 449 but the Hammers have actually got worse since Moyes’ appointment with just 424.

There are two areas West Ham have improved under the Scot, though. The average miles covered is up from 65.8 to 68.6 and passing accuracy has increased from 76% to 79% under Moyes.