David Moyes
You must be pleased with the way your team is playing?
I am really pleased with the way the players have performed certainly in the last few weeks, we are getting a bit closer to where we were at the beginning of the season so long may that continue.
Jarrod Bowen’s form has been scintillating so far this season, the most goal involvements out of any English players so far in the Premier League. What’s been the difference with his form this season compared to previous years?
He is more used to being a Premier League player, I think when we took him from Hull he certainly did very well but the time and getting a chance to play regularly at this level. He is maturing and adding a few goals recently which we want him to continue adding to and he has certainly got assists this year.
He has been involved in an awful lot of good stuff but we’re always looking for more, we’re always pushing him on and demanding more from him. I do think that he can improve again and step up again so let’s hope he shows that in the second half of the season.
How far can he go?
He’s doing well at the moment he’s playing for a team doing well in the Premier League. I hope that somewhere along the line he might find himself getting talked about for England recognition but I have said many times the competition for that position for England is really strong. So he will need to keep playing well, keep scoring goals and getting assists to keep his name in lights.
Has he spoken about his aspirations to represent his country?
No, he hasn’t but we would be really thrilled if it did happen but in the same breath his first job is to play for West Ham. I am more interested in how well he plays for West Ham and continuing that form and continues to improve, he is a really good team player as well which I like. All those aspects to his game have to be there for him to get in the West Ham team first and foremost.
There is another Premier League postponement [Burnley vs Leicester]. Is it getting to the point now where there just has to be transparency for everybody involved in the Premier League?
We have been going through this for a while now and I think we all know this is a difficult period for all football clubs with COVID and sometimes we need to know exactly what the numbers would be, but I’m guessing you’re asking is because you really want to know what the numbers are because it would make it much easier to understand. But the Premier League are the people who have that and we have to trust that they’re doing things correctly.
Could clubs potentially suffer if they have games postponed when it is not their fault?
Yes, that’s right and I think that that’s really where the problems come from but the Premier League have to try and do what is right if they deem one of the teams have COVID they have to deal with that.
We have only been in that situation once this season with the Norwich game being called off earlier this season. But it could happen to us and I might need to call the Premier League one day and say we do not have enough players and are struggling to get a team out. So if somebody else has got it we have to believe that the Premier League are doing the right things and proving the numbers are correct.
Any players returning or fresh concerns ahead of Leeds match?
When you play Sunday, Wednesday, Sunday, you’re always liable to pick up more injuries and I think that’s the problem with the regular games. We have one or two knocks and niggles in the camp which we probably have to assess and see how they are. Kurt Zouma is on his way back and doing quite well in training, he has just started back really. He is another player who unfortunately has gone down with the virus [COVID] but those things are the same at all the clubs whether it be injuries or COVID but we have to deal with it and move on and do the best we can.
Are there any developments in the January transfer window?
I would like to bring some news faces in if I could to add to the group of players I have got. But we will try and do it as well as we can. At the moment the ones we are looking for or the ones we would like to get are either not available or we just can’t get. We will keep looking and see what we can get between now and the end of the window.
Are you surprised with how well West Ham are doing this season?
I paused because I am thinking about how well we did in pre-season and how well we started the season and the feeling about it.
We brought Declan Rice back from the Euros, we brought Tomas Soucek back from the Euros and they were thrilled to come back and that gave us a real good chance to start the season well and we did do.
We felt a little bit recently one or two injuries have made our form go a bit up and down. I still think we are trying to find our best form again but we are getting closer to it and I hope that continues.
Do you sense that Leeds have perhaps turned the corner after the difficulties have been through?
I think Leeds will be fine. I expect them to have one or two players back by the time the game comes around. They are a really good side, really hard to play against, and have shown that over the last couple of years. Everybody likes watching them and knows about their energy and how they play so that makes it really difficult to play against and we have had some really tough games against them over the last year or so.
It is Declan Rice’s 23rd birthday today. Are you impressed with what he’s achieved as a player and how he’s developed as a player and in the time he’s been a West Ham?
I’ve been here twice. On the first occasion, he was a young boy making his way playing centre-half most of the time. Since I have come back he had already developed into a midfield player.
I think in the last two years he has stepped up, he has stepped up his leadership, his playing. I think everybody would see him as an England player at the moment. A couple of years ago, he was still developing into an England player. I think how well he has done for the national team, but more importantly, you don’t get recognised for the national team if you don’t play well for your club side.
And Declan has played really well for West Ham and he’s doing really well. I think he can keep moving on. I think he’s got little bits of his game he can add to and we are in a time all the time to keep improving, to keep driving the team on and show those leadership qualities which I think he’s already got for a young man, but they will get better as he gets older as well.
He wears the captain’s armband for you as well that is a big responsibility to give to a young man, isn’t it?
Being captain of West Ham is a big deal, when you look at the great captains at this club over the years, none more so than Mark Noble. There are examples prior to that but I think Mark Noble would still wear the captain’s armband if he was playing in the team and not coming near to retirement. But overall he has a role model to look up to in Mark Noble and we hope that Declan can keep carrying it and improving.
How much more appealing are West Ham as a club for players to come to if you’re in the top four?
I think West Ham is an appealing club, a London club, we are certainly more appealing now than we have been for a long time and the job is to keep that going and to try to add to it.
I am really keen to add to it, the board are with me, they want to add as well, they’re very supportive. So it’s actually trying to identify the right players and bring in players who we would really like to bring here and go on the rest of the journey so we will keep looking and hopefully something will appear for us in the last couple of weeks.
You were missing some players for the Norwich game, Tomas Soucek and Mark Noble, what is the current situation?
I don’t want to be specific on who has COVID and who is injured but those two were out and we are hoping we might get one of them back but I am not saying who. We might get one of them back and we also have some niggles which we picked up from the game.
We’ve also got some other players who have COVID as well. So we’re trying to work around it like every other club at the moment. It’s difficult but we’ve injuries and COVID like all clubs have.
