The People's Forum: Re: How Moyes might view the current squad vs what he had last time

I hope/expect that Moyes has better comparisons and templates in mind than his last stint with us, but I think you've found some interesting parallels.

- Might be more inclined to use Patterson, particularly as an impact sub, as he did with Coleman
- Might use Branthwaite as a left back (like Lescott)
- N'Diaye and McNeil are very similar to Pienaar and Kilbane
- Mangala is the Arteta type ball recycler
- Doucoure is his Fellaini/Soucek style player
- Lindstrom is quick but maybe like Drenthe Moyes won't know what to do with him
- DCL is like Saha (very good when fit and on form, but not reliable. Beto is Straq)

My concern is that this isn't dramatically different to how we set up with Dyche. Ironically Dyche's final team selection showed a different shape and got the best out of players who we hadn't seen much of (Patterson, O'Brien, Armstrong) and gave me a bit of a hope that a new manager could implement a new system and improve us that way.

Yet Moyes pretty much invented the 4-5-1 with narrow wide midfielders and a tall and gangly central midfielder as a second striker. Yes he did evolve into having overlapping full backs, but I wouldn't be surprised at all to see a Moyes line up along the following lines:
Pickford
Patterson
Tarkowski
Branthwaite
Mykolenko/Young
Mangala
Gueye
Harrison
Doucoure
Ndiaye
DCL

That is pretty much Dyche's team.

So on the one hand it comes to player recruitment. Maybe a decent LB, an upgrade on Gueye (even though Tim and Garner are supposed do that) and an upgrade on Harrison. Fingers crossed we get the full back, box to box midfielder and right winger than Moyes supposedly wants.

That all said, maybe it would be a big risk to try a totally new playing style. After all, Dyche did a lot of good - hard working players, defensively organised, etc. Hopefully Moyes can do the tweaks necessary to attack with a little more fluidity, and turn a few draws into wins.

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Goalkeeper
Last time he mostly had Nigel Martyn and Tim Howard and while he might wish Pickford was more commanding of his box, Pickford is a better keeper than both of them so he'll be happy enough

Centrebacks
He likes big lads strong in the air with physicality and experience (Weir, Stubbs, Jagielka) and for that matter Dawson at West Ham so I can imagine he'll absolutely love Tarkowski and probably be OK with Keane and O'Brien. When he had a centre back with pace like Distin, he used him to allow the fullback to push up and Branthwaite would fill that role with aplomb.

Left Back
There's noone in the squad with Baines' skillset and hasn't been since Digne left, which is a problem. That said, depending on the height in the rest of the team, Moyes was happy to play a tall centre back like Pistone, Unsworth or even Lescott for a time at left back. Might he try Branthwaite there for now ?
Mykolenko is more like Oviedo - maybe he tries him in left midfield?

Right Back
Coleman is still here, but the Moyes version of Coleman circa 2010 was raw more like Patterson. He hasn't got a Tony Hibbert, but maybe would value Young in the way he did Phil Neville ? Can O'Brien play right back given Moyes focus on height.

Defensive midfielders
Gueye and Mangala could both fill the Carsley role pretty well. Later in his time at Everton Moyes was partial to having a taller defensive holding midfielder like Rodwell or even playing Fellaini there. Maybe he can do that with Iroegbunam or Garner. Could imagine Moyes would have made good use of Onana.

Left Midfield
Hasn't really got a Pienaar in the squad Ndiaye maybe the nearest. Dwight McNeil would perfectly fit the Kilbane role though

Right midfield/wing
Similar to the left side he doesn't have an Arteta available. Jack Harrison could fill the Osman role though given his defensive discipline. On occasion Moyes did like having pace with Donovan and Drenthe but unless he can make something from Lindstrom he's out of luck there.

Attacking midfielder
I'm sure he'd love a Tim Cahill for his spirit, heading ability and all around nuisance making but we don't have one. Alternatively a Fellaini but we don't have that either. If only Doucoure was 5 years younger and/or 5 inches taller.... Its a problem as that role was key to how Moyes set up his team.
Hopefully Potter at West Ham hates Soucek and he can reunite with Moyes. Otherwise could Chermiti play this way ?

Forwards
Hmmmmm. Moyes had a wide mix of forwards. The season we came 4th he had Marcus Bent running the channels endlessly and later had Andy Johnson doing that. DCL seems to hate that way of playing. Beto would be game for it but thus far he has seemed more of a Straqualursi or on a good day an Anichebe. Beattie was a disaster for Moyes, and Jelavic after a hot start completely lost his scoring ability. I'm not convinced Moyes is the one to get the best from DCL, although Saha did well for Moyes when fit as did Yakubu.

Obviously there is noone anything like the 18 year old Rooney available to him.

Just my thoughts..