David Moyes
Any team news?
David Moyes: No injuries, everybody is fit and available. We can make changes but we are also trying to get the selection correct.
Will you go out all guns blazing?
David Moyes said: It is easy to say that at the start of the tournament but overall it is only the first game and there is a long way to go in the tournament so we have to take it one game at a time and see how it is as a group section and we would like to still be in Europa after Christmas and New Year.
You said before, you really want to be in competition do a sense of the excitement of fans who’ve travelled and how much it means to us to be here now?
Mark Noble: Yeah, it’s an amazing occasion. We’ve done fantastically well last year to get to this point, even been, I think it was three points off the Champions League at the end of last season. So, it’s been sort of three or four months of excitement really looking forward to, who we drew in the group stages. We’re here now, and as the boss said we’ve got a, we’ve got a full squad. No injuries everyone ready to go and play. We’ve got four or five new signings that I could say are used to this, this part of the world used to this football. So we’re well prepared and, and we’re really excited about everything.
There are examples of teams who have had really good seasons and they got into Europe and they struggled to compete on all fronts the following season. How confident are you that this will accelerate the progress and put a hold to the momentum you’re building?
David Moyes: I agree we’ve seen plenty of teams who it hasn’t worked for. I’ve been in that situation in early seasons at Everton where it didn’t quite work. But as we gained more experience, we got better and we lost one year on penalty kicks in the quarter-final against Fiorentina. You do need to pick up experience. That’s why we have to give big respect to Dinamo Zagreb, who are a team who have been a regular in European football, whether that be in the Champions League or Europa League. We understand we’re up against an experienced opponent and we’re relatively new to the challenge. All the things that come with it we don’t really know. What we’ve tried to do is take everything on really positively, really forward thinking and try be aggressive in our own way. But ultimately we know we’re new to the competition as far as recent history goes. But I think we’ve got a good squad and a team that hopefully we’ll understand the longer we go in the competition.
Dinamo beat Spurs here last year is that just an example of what they can do?
Mark Noble: The level we play at now, not just in the Premier League or Europa League but in the cups, if you’re not at a level, you get beat. It showed last year. I think apart from the top two or three teams, we’ve had the best goals scored and points picked up, especially last season. I think coming into European competition, we’re ready. Will it be tough? Yes. Dinamo have got a really good team, really good players. Obviously we saw the result they had last season against Spurs. It was impressive to beat them 3-0 but we come here unbeaten in the Premier League at the minute, eight points picked up. At the moment, I’ll say we’re not used to being in the Europa. But we are used to winning in the last year. We’re used to having that winning feeling. And it’s not something we want to give up just because we’re playing in Europe. So for us, coming away in the first game we’ll have 2,000 West Ham fans here to watch us play, which is exciting, and hopefully we’ll get the result we want.
What kind of game do you expect tomorrow?
David Moyes: This is relatively new to us but we have watched Zagreb we know that they’ve lost one or two players in recent times as well but we’re very much aware of the history of what they’ve done in in Europe over the years. Obviously a solid performance last season against Tottenham, which was really impressive because Tottenham as you know have a strong team with lots of big players in the team. So, I don’t think that this Zagreb will see us as anything different. So they will come into the game feeling quite confident. We have to play six games in the group, possibly this could be the toughest game away from home and in the group for us. So, this is a this is a tough game for us in the opening game, but we come into with a fit group of players with a lot of confidence, s0 I hope we can show that.
What do you expect from Niko Vlasic?
David Moyes: We’ve been really impressed by Niko, his attitude as a professional, is first class we’ve been really really impressed. We like him, we watched him a lot there, when he was in Spartak and then we watched the Euros as well and we see a young player still developing, who’s already got a lot of experience, and caps for Croatia. We know he can play, 7, 10, 11. He can do several roles for us which is important and will be important through the season. But we also want to give him a chance to adapt and adjust, but I have to say, he’s been very impressive since he’s been at the club and he’s only really been here a couple of weeks at the moment, but I think we’ve all been really impressed by the way he’s going about things, and we’re really hopeful that he’ll turn into a really good player for us
The players you brought in over the summer they’ve all got European experience so can we expect to see some of them tomorrow. Is that why you brought them in?
David Moyes: I brought them into the club because I knew they would come into an unbelievable dressing room and team spirit so they would have no problems settling in. They will have no difficulty in adjusting, Niko, Kurt, Alex and Alphonso. The can affect the first team and challenge the first team players. I feel as if we’ve made additions which can actually affect the first team. I think the boys who played last year did an incredible job to get us here, so they need a little bit of an opportunity to show that, but I’ve not brought in players just to stand back and watch. We’ve got six games in this tournament so as it goes on I’ll know better by the end of it, but probably in the early days I’ll be trying to find the right team at the right time to fit in with the Premier League fixtures we’ve got I think they’re just over the moon that they can watch us play again, and it’s an added bonus we’re playing in Europe again.
How pleased are you to have the fans here?
Mark Noble: I think they’re just over the moon that they can watch us play again, and it’s an added bonus we’re playing in Europe again. I’d also say it’s a bonus they probably see it as a three day holiday instead of an overnight The weather’s great and I’ve heard the nightlife in Zagreb is pretty good as well, so I don’t think they’ll be sitting in their hotel rooms! Everywhere we’ve been in the world, whether it’s pre-season games in Europe or in the Premier League, we always get fantastic support. We’re used to that. Dinamo are aware we’ve got fantastic support as well so I’m hoping the atmosphere is great tomorrow night, and we’re hoping that we can leave with a win because after the 18 months we’ve had without fans in, for us to come back into the Europa League and give our fans a European win would be fantastic. The games are coming thick and fast and we are lucky to have a fully fit squad of players the manager can choose from, and we’re really looking forward to tomorrow night.
Is winning the group the target?
David Moyes: You always want to be number one and you want to come out on top, so we’ll try and do that but as we said we’re novices into this competition, so we’re looking forward to seeing how we believe we’ve got a good enough squad and a good enough team which can be a challenge and give most teams a game so let’s hope we can prove that over the, over the six games
What does the future hold for you, Mark?
Mark Noble: Of course I’ve thought about it but for me this year whether I am playing or not playing it’s the same situation. My role is to support the manager, to support the team, to support the players that we’ve got. As I said, we’ve got a lot of games coming up in the Europa League and Cup games and also Premier League and I’m sure the manager will have to use the squad. At some point this season, he will have to rotate the players but for me, I’m concentrating on playing first, and being ready for when the manager needs me to play. But as I said my main aim this season is to make sure that we have a good Premier League season we hopefully progress through the Europa League stage and hopefully end my West Ham playing career on a high note because getting into this competition at the end of last year was fantastic and as the manager said, if you to enter a competition the aim is to win it, and I don’t see why we can’t do that.
Does Antonio’s suspension make a difference?
David Moyes: We will always try to look after Mic at the right times but it would still have been a game where we will always try to be as strong as we can. Mic might have been someone we considered leaving out but I think with the situation I don’t think we will do that Mic is in the same consideration as every other player.
How will you feel if you play tomorrow Mark?
Mark Noble: Tt would be an incredibly proud moment for me. Whether I wear the armband tomorrow night or in a Europa League game It makes my job is no different. My job is to support the team. And I’ll do that for sure. Obviously when I haven’t been playing Declan has come in and done a fantastic job and he’s still learning. He’s still learning to be a captain, he’s still young, but he’s obviously he’s a fantastic player and he’s done great for us so we’ve got some incredibly experienced players in our team now like the likes of Angelo and Cress and Dawson, and Lukasz in goal and other players that have had experience of European football but as I said, the main aim is to win. And that’s what we’ve come in to do and hopefully, we can we put on a show for our, our travelling fans.
Mark, you have seen some ups and downs at West Ham how would you describe the club now compared to 15 years ago?
Mark Noble: Yeah, I’ve seen some ups and downs, you’re right. But yeah, we’ve actually had a really solid two years and I think if you look at the managers Everton side, I played against him many times it was a strong and can compete in every game and I think that’s the way we are now I think every time we take we take the field we look like we’re going to compete with every team we play against. We will lose some games, of course and we’ll have some fantastic times as well but I think if we can do what we’ve done for the last two years and keep that and keep building a little bit I mean, this year for us in Europa League is fantastic but why can’t we set our, our sights further and keep pushing on because we’ve signed some top players. I’m pretty convinced that we’ll keep signing some top players, and, and if we can keep a solid base and foundation of what we’ve already got I’m pretty sure we can keep on progressing but yes you’re right we have, we have got a much better foundation now in it.
