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David Moyes: I went to Chelsea this week but not to run my eye over Michy Batshuayi

Moving issue: Michy Batshuayi has been the subject of much speculation this month: Getty Images
Moving issue: Michy Batshuayi has been the subject of much speculation this month: Getty Images

In last week’s column I said that, from my reckoning, a total of 30 players had been linked with West Ham. Seven days on and there’s been a change. Now it’s all about who is going to leave!

Before the window opened, I said our priority had to be in midfield, where we were short of cover. Since then most of the speculation has been about our front players and, depending who you listen to or what you read, all our strikers are up for sale.

I went to watch Chelsea play Norwich in the FA Cup on Wednesday night and I knew that would increase the speculation about Andy Carroll and Chelsea with Michy Batshuayi coming to us.

Categorically, I did not go to Stamford Bridge to watch Batshuayi or any other player in particular. I like to get out and watch plenty of matches, I hadn’t seen Norwich this season and there were some players there who had been mentioned to me as having been doing well.

What may defuse much of the speculation is that the ankle injury Andy picked up against West Brom is sufficiently serious that he will not be able to play again this month anyway and it could even need an operation to put things right, although that has not yet been confirmed.

The fact that some of our strikers have not been regulars in the team recently has added grist to the rumour mill so I want to make it clear that we have really good strikers. Some of them could play better and the form of Marko Arnautovic has changed the dynamics a little.

When I came to the club I knew we had a good group of front players so the challenge was finding the right balance and a formation which gave us the best chance of winning.

I wasn’t going to choose them because they were the bigger names — I had to find a way to win more games and that meant that, on some occasions, some of them wouldn’t always start.

As we developed, we tried Marko and Michail Antonio as a pair up front and the two of them did well. Michail then picked up an injury and since then we’ve been changing between Andre Ayew, and Chicharito while last weekend we had Manuel Lanzini in behind.

Arnautovic has impressed since Moyes took the reins (Arfa Griffiths/West Ham United via Getty Images)
Arnautovic has impressed since Moyes took the reins (Arfa Griffiths/West Ham United via Getty Images)

This window has been disruptive. What I’m trying to do here is build a group spirit in the knowledge that they will all be needed at some stage. By the same token there are no guarantees that any one of them will always start. I want competition and if any player wants a guarantee that they will always play if fit, I have to tell them that they won’t find it here at West Ham, that’s for sure.

Talking generally, I don’t believe there will be too many decisions being made about the future, in terms of players or the management and coaching staff, until we know if we will still be a Premier League club next season.

I think a lot of decisions will be made when the future is assured and I totally understand that. We all have to demonstrate that we can do the job.

Both Bournemouth, who we play tomorrow and ourselves have been involved in cup replays this week. Our game against Shrewsbury, on Tuesday, went to extra-time while Bournemouth made a host of changes before losing at Wigan on Wednesday night.

Some of the players were tired after our match but I’m a believer in being battle-hardened and ready. Statistics and analysis tell us a lot but there are some unexpected results, such as when West Brom, who had played 48 hours earlier while we played six days before, came to the London Stadium at the start of the month. You would have expected their stats to be down but they were way above what you would have expected.

I hope that, in the future, we can get West Ham into Europe, so we need to be prepared for a lot of hard work.

I was very impressed by the attitude of Reece Burke and Josh Cullen against Shrewsbury and particularly Reece’s comments after the game that he needed to play regularly so he might need to go back on loan to Bolton. We will probably make a decision on that after the next round against Wigan but that says a lot about his character.

The fee for this column is going to Jo’s Cervical Cancer Trust (jostrust.org.uk). Monday is the start of Cervical Cancer Prevention Week.

Now that was a dream start

Milestone: Lanzini gives Moyes his 200th Premier League win at Huddersfield (PA)
Milestone: Lanzini gives Moyes his 200th Premier League win at Huddersfield (PA)

I wasn’t aware I had reached the 200 Premier League wins milestone until it was pointed out to me. Managers are not usually all that clued up about personal records — it’s mainly all about the team.

I still remember my first one, though. It was Everton against Fulham at home and David Unsworth scored for us after 25 seconds! What a great feeling that was and we went on to win 2-1.

I will also fondly remember the game that brought me my 200th Premier League win as well, the 4-1 victory at Huddersfield last week, which was equally enjoyable.

That winning feeling is why we’re all in football and I thought we played really well up there.

I believe I’m not far short of 900 games as a manager now and I would love to pass the thousand mark. That would be a big achievement.

West Ham’s Glasgow feel

Settling in: David Moyes (Getty Images)
Settling in: David Moyes (Getty Images)

I have to say I am really enjoying this job. I’m a Glaswegian and I feel I can relate to the people at West Ham. They’re similar in that there are no frills about them. They challenge you and you’re never sure what kind of comments you will get. They know what they want and they tell you. It feels that way to me, a proper football club.

It keeps you on your toes and there’s a feeling of ‘don’t ever drop your guard because they’ll be quick to catch you out’.

I feel as if I can’t take my foot off the pedal anyway because I have to make sure we get to the finishing line, which is Premier League safety, as quickly as we can.

We’ve only lost twice in the past nine League and cup games now and we’ve moved up to 11th.

The bottom line is that winning dictates your enjoyment and we have to keep it going.