New West Ham boss David Moyes says player criticism of former manager Slaven Bilic’s training methods are unfair.
Two wins in 11 games saw Bilic dismissed by the Hammers, leading to Moyes being tasked with turning the club’s fortunes around.
West Ham visit Watford on Sunday and Moyes has urged his players to take responsibility for their current predicament.
“We’ve already laid it bare,” he told the Evening Standard.
“I’ve said that yes, the club can change manager but somewhere along the line, I hope the players here at West Ham can stand up and say: ‘We need to do better’.
“I’ve found the players responsive and I do think they are ready and willing to take responsibility.
“What I would say to the West Ham supporters is that, from what I’ve seen in my first week or so, the players do care and they are definitely trying to do much better — that’s been very evident in the training sessions so far.”
A regular criticism under Bilic was that West Ham were not working hard enough on the pitch and were susceptible to picking up injuries.
However, Moyes believes it’s easy for players to make excuses and he’s told them not to complain to him if they find his training too difficult.
“I know there has been talk that they didn’t feel they were as fit as they could be and the intensity wasn’t always there, but I’ve told them that it can sometimes be easy for the players to point fingers at the management, to say it’s their fault and, personally, I would never be critical of another manager,” he added.
“So I’ve said to them: ‘If I train too hard and the intensity is high, don’t be coming to me and start moaning that the training is too hard and we’re struggling to do the work because you can’t have it both ways’.
“The bottom line is that, if the players want more work, then that’s all well and good but they are the ones who have to put that effort in.”
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