David Moyes
Is Manuel Lanzini ok following his crash?
I can’t tell you what happened because I wasn’t there and only got the information you boys have got. The car went into a ditch off the road. He’s a bit sore but he’s OK. It was terrible. For any of us. We don’t want to go on too much about it. It happens in all walks of life. It happened to Manuel but he’s OK thankfully.
Will Jarrod Bowen and Vladimir Coufal be fit for Sunday?
A chance that both could make it. Both did a bit of training over the international break so a chance both can be there. I’m not quite sure they are match ready yet. That’s my only concern.
What about for Lyon?
We’ve to concentrate on this game first. We’ve got a busy schedule as well so we have to be aware of that and try to make sure don’t overcook players. But we need to win the next game against Everton
Everton memories?
It was a great time in my career. I really enjoyed it. A brilliant period, 11.5 years at Everton. I hope to do something similar at West Ham, try to build a side regularly contending for Europe and be at the top end of the league. Have lots of international players, boys who improve, come from lower leagues and keep improving. I hope we can continue in a similar fashion here. It was a really good period for me at Everton. We’re much further on here at West Ham than when we first went to Everton. It took me longer but fortunately I was given the time. Time in football management is not easy. Big thanks to all the people who supported me at Everton in those early days. I hope by the end we’d gone on to become a side known for being in the top end of the league.
Table looks scary for them. Will they stay up?
I know what it’s like. Not a position you want to be in. You’re looking at all the fixtures, where you can take points. That’s how I looked at it, when I took over it was the situation we were in here. I’m sure Frank is doing the same. They are good enough to stay up. Come the end of the season you’ll probably find that.
Five subs, in favour?
I am. I wasn’t in favour two years ago but I’ve changed because the welfare of the players has changed. It’s been difficult for so many clubs with covid and more games being put in. I’m in favour of it.
Final push for Europe begins Sunday?
We’ve got eight games and a couple of Europa League games to play. It’s a real good time of the season. This is when you wing things or make things happen if you can.
Home form has been terrific?
Really, really important to keep it going. We’ve got four to go plus a European tie. You can only do one at a time and we need to try and win the next game.
Everton have good record away to West Ham?
Never even knew that, never considered it. It makes no bones.
What are you expecting from them?
They’ve had some really good performances, a good win against Newcastle. In other games they will be disappointed with how they’ve played. The games are tight, very little between a lot of the teams. I expect them to come here and make it really hard for us. It’ll be a tough game. We’re under no illusions how hard it will be. We have to try and keep winning to stay up with teams near the top half. We’ve got a lot to play for. It’s more about us than about Everton. I’m more concentrated about what we’re going and focusing on keeping up with the teams at the top.
Bowen’s return would be a massive boost?
I expect him to be on the pitch in the coming weeks but I don’t know about this week. I expect him to be on it shortly. He’s a miss for us but we’ve had periods where we missed other key players and got through it. We’ve missed him for a couple of weeks now. Hopefully he’s not too far away.
Excited or apprehensive about the next few games?
I’m really excited about this period and I can sense that in the dressing room. We’ve got a lot of good things going on. We’re challenging. We want to stay amongst those at the top but we’ll take one game at a time. We’re looking over that horizon of what might be there as well. Our focus initially is we’ll see if can beat Everton at home and keep a good position in the league
Did the Spurs result affect belief?
We did an awful lot of good things until the last five or six minutes. We were 2-1 down, gave ourselves every opportunity to be in the game but the third goal put an end to it. Apart from those last minutes we did a lot of good things.
Worried about Lyon being a distraction?
Why would you not think about a quarter-final in Europe? You should be thinking about it. But we have a big game to focus on first. We’re not talking about Lyon today or looking at them in action. We’re only looking at Everton and what to do to beat them.
Do you know Lampard well?
Reasonably well. I got to know him a bit when he was Chelsea manager, bumped into him on several occasions. Always found him a real gentleman. An incredibly good football man, from a great football family. Very knowledgeable, he certainly knows the game.
What advice do you have for him?
The great thing for me is we’ve got some good young British coaches getting good jobs in the Premier League and in the Championship as well. We want to keep promoting many. Always keen to bring in the best coaches from overseas but less British managers mentioned. It’s really important people like Frank and Steven Gerrard keep pushing it through. I’m one of the slightly older ones but I still feel young and I can challenge them if I have to do so.
What did you make of Maguire boos?
If you play or manage in football you’ll always be booed at times. I don’t agree with it but in this industry it’s going to happen. I disagreed with the situation in midweek. The game hadn’t even started. I can understand if he’d played badly or made poor decisions but the game hadn’t even started. I don’t get that situation. I disagreed with that.
