David Moyes did himself severe and lasting damage by taking the Manchester United job. Some would say he did United lasting damage, too. The former Everton boss took over from Alex Ferguson in 2013, and in all fairness, it was a job he couldn’t seriously turn down.

A promising start was made when Robin van Persie fired United to a 4-1 victory over Swansea City, but when the Red Devils posted only two wins in the first five games, the pressure was well and truly on. Perhaps that’s what changed perceptions early doors for Moyes and coloured the rest of his tenure at the club: with the pressure on they started to crumble.

That didn’t help, but the style of football which would have lasting consequences for Manchester United over the course of the next four years wouldn’t help either. Indeed, the poster boy for Manchester United’s failure under David Moyes is also the pin-up of choice for all of the style issues people have with the club, even this season.

Marouane Fellaini is a player who divides opinion. His very specific set of skills is so effective that it’s hard for any manager not to be seduced enough to want to employ to them, however unattractive and primitive it may seem. And yet, Manchester United are a club where more than wins is usually asked: they want to do it in style.

Fast forward four years and David Moyes has been through a few clubs and had little success. You can mitigate the fact that his time at Real Sociedad was hard because it was in a new country with a new language and culture. Or you can say that Manchester United was the impossible job, coming hot on the heels of one of the greatest managers that ever lived. And you can even say that, given the state of Sunderland right now, he was probably doomed to failure before even signing on the dotted line. But failure at West Ham would be the final nail in his metaphorical, managerial coffin, you would think.

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And that’s where it gets tricky. This is a team which is, on paper, far too good to be in the position in which they now find themselves. And yet, they are in the Premier League relegation zone because they aren’t a group of players who have been whipped into any kind of shape this season, having spent the last few years under a manager who didn’t appear to care about discipline and didn’t seem to have a tactical plan. On the other hand, just like Manchester United, this is a club who don’t just want to win but want to do it in style.

Theoretically, anyway.

It’s hard to imagine any fan who would rather be relegated playing attractive but ultimately fruitless football than climb into the top half through solid organisation. Even the last few weeks have been telling on that front: the Hammers faithful never seemed to fall out of love with Slaven Bilic even though it felt like there was almost unanimous admission that a change had to be made. And yet, despite all of this, the style of football at the London Stadium this season has been thoroughly agricultural: with Andy Carroll up front, the Irons possess a player with a similar level of effectiveness as Fellaini, even if he’s less reliably match fit.

That might suit Moyes down to the ground – at least in the short term. But omens from his time at United don’t just end there.

Dan Burn is 6’7” and plays for Wigan Athletic in League One. But for one season, he played Premier League football at Fulham. He’d been at the club for a few years, but as a youngster, he was loaned out to Football League clubs after being picked up from Darlington, who were in the conference.

It was in a Premier League game against Manchester United at Old Trafford where Burn complained that he “never headed that many balls since the Conference” after making 22 clearances as Moyes’ United plastered the Fulham box with 81 crosses.

That was probably the absolute nadir. Not only were the Red Devils – champions at the time – held to a 2-2 draw by Fulham, who would go on to be relegated, but they were also humiliated when it came to their style of play, too.

It would be unfair to predict that this will happen at West Ham for the rest of the season based on one game of football when David Moyes was a man under unfathomable pressure and clearly buckling because of it. But it would be unwise to suggest that he has much of a choice in the short term. So far this season, the Hammers’ defence is the worst in the league, and so sorting that out will be the number one priority. As Claudio Ranieri said of his Nantes team this season, they are playing defensive football because, “If you do not close the door, burglars will come in and steal everything. Once it is shut, you can decorate and organise as you wish.”

And despite Moyes’ inability to turn things around at Manchester United with such an approach, he might well have more luck at West Ham, a club with quality but no direction and where sorting out the defence first will be the priority. But before Moyes can decorate the team the way he likes, be prepared for more direct football at the London Stadium.