MY ACCOUNT
Jurgen Klopp was willing David Moyes to survive at the depth of West Ham’s early-season crisis because the Liverpool manager dreaded becoming the old man of the Premier League.
The Hammers took just four points from seven games at the outset of this campaign but Moyes guided his team to 10 points from the next five to buy himself some time.
There have been turbulent times since, including a run where his players took just one point from a possible 21, yet the Londoners look like surviving for another season in the top flight after pulling clear of the relegation zone.
On Wednesday, they host Liverpool, who have won 10 of their last 12 Premier League games against them.
The exceptions both came at the London Stadium, with a 1-1 draw in February 2019 and a 3-2 victory for West Ham in November 2021.
When the season began, Moyes was the oldest Premier League boss and he turned 60 on Tuesday.
Klopp, at 55, is still some way short of being a veteran manager but he was wary of the possibility of all his Premier League colleagues being younger men.
Managerial situations at other clubs rarely interest him — but this was different.
He said: “In this specific one I was really in it. Because if West Ham would have sacked David, I would have been the oldest manager in the Premier League and I wanted to avoid that.
“Yes, David has to stay. David is a top colleague. They have a good team and they show now their quality again.”
Klopp has enjoyed having a post-match beer with Moyes in the past and was pleased he managed to ride out the storm.
The German added: “He’s a really good person as far as I know and I like that he always finds a way to get a team going. “
Moyes is no longer the Premier League’s oldest boss, with 75-year-old Roy Hodgson’s mid-season return to Crystal Palace changing that.
