Opinion: David Moyes needs to take note from European giants in fight for survival

The battle against relegation this season is hotting up. West Ham are one of the many sides involved in it and the Hammers are desperate for David Moyes to save them from the drop, a feat very achievable should the Scottish tactician play his cards right in the final months of the season.

With that in mind, the Hammers could take a leaf out of the book of Atletico Madrid, who showed the world how to put on a defensive masterclass when they recorded a 1-0 win over Liverpool in the Champions League on Tuesday evening.

Obviously, before you all jump into the comments section and let us know how different the current West Ham and Atletico Madrid squads are, we know, but the system that Diego Simeone’s side deploy could easily be translated to the squad that Moyes has at his disposal.

We don’t think that Moyes can get a 1-0 win at Anfield this weekend, but using the same system could get the very best from Sebastien Haller and it could also be used to improve the Irons at the back. Having someone of Felipe Anderson or Jarrod Bowen’s style playing up with Haller, much like Angel Correa did with Alvaro Morata, could get the best from the front line, and then it’s about sorting about the defence.

Whatever system is used, the Hammers won’t be able to account for the individual errors, but if they can slot into the more defensive setup, secure the odd point against some of the bigger sides, albeit little is expected from the upcoming run, and beat the sides around them, then survival should come naturally.

The supporters will be desperate for Moyes to sort their football out as soon as possible and get them back out of the bottom three and back into midtable, but it will take a lot for him to do so, and we believe changing to a 4-4-2 could be the key change they need.