David Moyes

David William Moyes





Current Club/Country: N/A.

Previous Clubs/Countries: West Ham United, Sunderland, Real Sociedad, Manchester United, Everton, Preston North End.



Honours: European Conference League 2022/23. Community Shield 2013/14. English League One 1999/2000.





Moyes' tactical approach is very simple and a bit old fashioned. A variant of 4-4-1-1/4-5-1, depending on how you view the distinction between the two set ups, with a very safety-first approach. It is first and foremost about not losing, rather than about going for the win. He would also accompany that approach with defeatist comments, such as taking a knife to a gunfight, to make it seem like his team is always the complete underdog and a draw would be a wonderful result. That led to his team always having an inferiority complex which stopped them ever being able to progress past a certain level.



You can almost pick a trademark Moyes' team very easily. Given time to do so, he puts together a very similar 11 to play his system at every club he is involved with:

Goalkeeper - a solid shotstopper, with no need to sweep up or be good with his feet at all.

Full-backs - again solid defensive-minded players, though with the ability to deliver a decent cross.

Centre-backs - big, strong, good in the air and willing to put their body on the line.

Central midfield duo - hard-working, solid, no-nonsense midfielders to sit in front of the defence and provide protection.

Wingers - preferably pacey and always looking to put a cross in but must be willing to work back.

Attacking mid/second striker - good in the air, someone that can be a real threat arriving late in the box on the end of crosses.

Centre-forward - someone who can hold up the ball well and good in the air.



Defensively Moyes will set up his team the same way, no matter the opponent. There is never any question of taking the game to the opposition, his teams will never play with an aggressive high press. Instead they drop deep, denying space in behind and stay narrow, looking to keep numbers in the middle to deny any attempt to play through them or run at them. Their intention is to force the opposing team to have to go wide and throw crosses in, where their big centre-halves can head them clear very easily. They will constantly give up the wide areas, feeling safe in the knowledge that they can deal with crossed balls.



Offensively he actually sets out his team to play the same way that he attempts to force the opponents to play - with attacks focused on getting wide and putting crosses in. However, Moyes has that attacking mid/second striker (think Cahill or Fellaini or Soucek) making late runs into the box to get their head on the delivery. There is also a desire to get set pieces in dangerous areas, free kicks and corners, that can be put into the danger area where those two centre-backs can add themselves to the mix and attempt to score. It is a very simple policy of get it wide and then get it in, but it can often be effective.



In open play there will be a reluctance to commit bodies forward, he prefers the central midfield duo to sit deep and cover, as well as one full-back only going forward at a time. The attacking play can often be slow and laboured, as there are few options to get it forward quickly. With the reluctance Moyes has to let his players off the leash, always looking to play it safe, that makes his teams rarely a fun watch. All in all, his style is not popular with the fans, unless the team is picking up results beyond the expectation of supporters they are very quick to get disillusioned by the tedium of watching his team fail to go out and attack unless losing. It is probably fair to say, despite the recent success of the Conference League win with West Ham, Moyes' time is pretty much over at the top end of the European game.



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