West Ham manager David Moyes must channel his inner Al Pacino if he is to save club from relegation
Hollywood actor starred in Any Given Sunday in which he gives a passionate speech about 'fighting for inches'
THEY may be an unlikely couple, but David Moyes must channel his inner Al Pacino if he is to drag West Ham to safety.
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.
The Scotsman is no mug and I’m sure he was always well aware there was a long, hard road ahead before he could haul them up the table.
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.
Close players down quickly, because that extra step can stop a cross, nick a ball away from an attacker, or get in a last-ditch block.
Latest West Ham news
But there will be no quick fix for West Ham, however much the fans are praying for one. This is a roll-your-sleeves-up fight and one that won’t be won easily.
It is one which has to start by establishing just how fit his players are, because without that you won’t compete, whoever is in charge. It’s a pre-requisite of anything in football.
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.
I keep making reference to my former Arsenal boss George Graham, but that’s because he always stressed the need to build from the back and base everything on not conceding.
That’s where West Ham have fallen down.
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.
If he can do that, I’d be telling the rest not to worry about the expansive stuff — just get it into the box for those two as quickly as possible.
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.
They have to play to their strengths and show how good they are, especially over the next five games, because that could make or break the rest of it.
After Leicester on Friday, they’ve got Everton, Manchester City, Chelsea and Arsenal — matches which will go a long way to determining if Moyesie stays beyond the initial six months.
It won’t be easy, but nicking something from a couple of those games could change the confidence and the momentum.
They won’t lack for passion from the dugout — now they have to start matching it on the pitch.
