'Show me what you've got' David Moyes calls on his West Ham players to put their hard work into practice at Watford

What have you got? Moyes watches over his players in training
West Ham United via Getty Images
Jack Rosser @JackRosser_17 November 2017

David Moyes has called on his West Ham players to show him what they’ve got against Watford after the squad told him they weren’t working hard enough.

The former Manchester United manager was called in on a six-month contract as a replacement for the sacked Slaven Bilic and, having had the international break to work with his squad, is now nearing his first game in charge, at Vicarage Road on Sunday.

There had been heavy criticism of the players’ work rate on the pitch under Bilic, and even more of their work rate on the training ground in the days since his departure.

However, Moyes insists his new squad have asked him for more work, but says it is now down to them to make it pay off.

“I certainly wouldn’t be one who would ever be critical of anyone before,” Moyes said of what had gone wrong earlier in the season.

“The players have told me what they think, so we’ll give them what they think they need to get better, we’ll put it on [in training] and I’ve got to say they’ve got to be the ones that take a lot of the responsibility for what they’re actions are now.

“They can’t always be saying ‘The manager doesn’t do this, or the manager doesn’t do that.’ So, come on let’s see what you can do yourself.”

One thing Moyes will need to get his squad battling for both him and the club in the coming months is the support of the club leaders.

In Pictures | David Moyes' First Training Session as West Ham manager

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The likes of captain Mark Noble and Winston Reid, the latter of which arrived back at Rush Green on Friday morning from international duty with New Zealand, will hold a lot of influence in the squad.

However, Moyes feels this is a squad blessed with a number of leaders, and says he can’t think of a manger who wouldn’t want players like his.

He added: “I actually think there’s quite a lot, you’ll have heard that they’ve already come in [under Bilic] and locked the dressing room and said ‘we better sort this out amongst ourselves’.

“So, I tell you what I don’t know any manager who wouldn’t want players like that you want players who take responsibility, you want players who are going to dig each other out, players who are going to communicate.

“I’ve got to say I’ve seen that here and because of that it gives me a big hope because you need the players to take ownership of what they’re doing and their own personal performances.”

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