Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
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Zaba hails new boss for sorting out defence
CPABLO ZABALETA has revealed how going back to basics helped David Moyes transform West Ham’s season.
The Hammers take on Shrewsbury in an FA Cup replay at the London Stadium tonight, with Moyes having buried talk of a crisis.
Saturday’s 4-1 win at Huddersfield saw West Ham – languishing in 18th place in the Premier League when Moyes took over in November – rise to 11th and continue their march to safety.
Zabaleta said the key to the improvement was Moyes tightening things up at the back, giving his flair players a solid base from which to express themselves.
The 32-year-old Argentinian defender said: “We all know David Moyes. He always tries to organise teams and makes sure they’re disciplined tactically, hard to beat.
“He brought that discipline needed to win games.
“We were conceding too many goals, even in his first two or three games. Playing 4-3-3, we weren’t doing great.
“We changed to three at the back, five if you want, and that made us more solid.
“Playing on the counter gives us a chance to get points. We can be braver on the ball and create more chances but I think defensively we must be honest.
“And we’ve been really good at the back recently.”
Captain Mark Noble was thrilled to come home from Huddersfield with three points and said: “The win sets us up perfectly for this replay.
“Obviously after results like that you look forward to the next game more than anything.
“It was a great away win and now Shrewsbury at home, under the lights, will be fantastic.
“Our league position now gives us a little bit of a buffer to attack the FA Cup.
“It’s a game we can look forward to – instead of having to worry about resting players.”