Been reflecting on that fantastic performance yesterday. I think those saying it came from nowhere haven’t really been paying attention. If you look at the xG stats since Moyes returned there has been a distinct upturn (of course if you hate stuff like xG, then you won’t have)

Looking at away performances since Moyes came back:

Sheff Utd (2.03 - 0.90 Actual L 1-0)

You’ll probably remember this as the game where we got mugged in the last minute by the handball rule, but no complaints, that’s the rule and we probably didn’t deserve anything

Leicester (2.91 - 1.16 Actual L 4-1)

I think I’ve blocked this from my mind but I see we had Randolph in goal so it was during that period when we were in full catastrofuck mode.

Man City (2.14 - 0.09 Actual L 2-0)

I think you get 0.03 every time you kick off so that explains that. A little note - we were all terrified about goal difference at this point so keeping City to 2 was an awful lot better than Watford (0-8) managed...

Liverpool (2.48 - 0.64 Actual L 3-2)

The turning point, I felt. But for two uncharacteristic Fabianski howlers we’d actually have won this, albeit xG says we didn’t really deserve to. We’re still letting in exactly what we’re supposed to at this point.

Arsenal (1.56 - 1.62 Actual L 0-1)

We had some huge chances this day and missed them all before letting in a VAR special 12 minutes from time. Our first xG “win” away from home since December. What a day.

Spurs (2.24 - 0.83 Actual L 2-0)

Probably worth saying “look at these fucking fixtures” at this point. Anyway, this was the first away game after lockdown and we got totally Mourinhoed.

Newcastle (1.49 - 2.03 Actual D 2-2)

A good game this and we probably should have won but didn’t. Worth saying here that by this stage we’re still not seeing any defensive overperformance (ie: letting in fewer then we should). I’m not sure Fabianksi was really fit at this time

Norwich (0.61 - 3.81 Actual W 0-4)

Bit hard on Norwich but they weren’t really very good. Still, this is good at both ends of the pitch.

Man Utd (0.98 - 1.29 Actual D 1-1)

Utd under OGS are big spenders with no brains but again this was a perfectly good performance and evidence yet again of a much improved team

Arsenal (1.33 - 2.06 Actual L 2-1)

We have a long and storied tradition of outplaying Arsenal and losing to them and God bless Moyes for picking that tradition up.

Leicester (0.46 - 2.03 Actual W 0-3)

The best performance of either Moyes era, I think.

And his next two away games are Spurs and Liverpool so I don’t know exactly how he angered the God of Fixtures but he’s certainly being punished.

All of which is to say that through a murderers row of away fixtures Moyes has noticeably improved West Ham. I still think the squad is hopeless but the team are good and the change is down to Moyes et al. They’re doing a very good job and I wish more fans would acknowledge it.

And if you think xG is a load of rubbish and don’t care for it, that’s really perfectly fine. Probably no need to tell me, mind you.