David Moyes
How pleased are you with that win after the poor start?
It was a poor start, and we had to pick ourselves up and we did do. I’ve got to say, there are long parts of the first half where we got good control and maybe needed to create some better chances and we did do, but to get back in at 2-1 was really important to us and I thought we deserved it as well. We’d done enough by half-time to go in in front but still looking for that little bit more quality in a lot of the things we do.
Usually, you could fold in these circumstances, but this group are different to come through in the way they did today?
I hope that’s changing, I’m demanding really high levels and I’m wanting that to show in how we play and we did it today with goals, but I thought our play could have been better and it has been better but the one thing they have got is they’ve got a big resilience and a toughness about them that they’re not accepting rolling over. The biggest thing for me was to play a game 48 hours ago and be ready to go again and to score goals away from home. To be fair I know Watford have had Covid but they’ve also had a period where there’s a chance for recovery as well so a lot of teams at this time of year would love to have a couple of weeks off so they could – you wouldn’t want Covid but a chance to spread your games out a little bit more. But we’ve had to battle on and we’ve got a lot of injuries as well at the moment.
What did you make of the decision to rule out Bowen’s goal?
Well, I’ve looked at the decision and I’ll be worried if the referees are going back to the soft decision like they did a year ago. I thought they’d got rid of that now. I was amazed that after seeing it, obviously in the game I didn’t know I accepted the referee’s decision, but now I have had a chance to see it I just cannot believe that that’s the level of free-kick they are giving in the Premier League. It’s such a soft free-kick to give I believed we had moved on from that but it looks like they are back in it now.
No question in your mind about your penalty?
Well, Jarrod Bowen does great to toe-poke it away from the goalkeeper. It is not harsh the decision because he takes Bowen and not the ball. Bowen gets there in front and that is the way it is if you get the ball first ahead of the goalkeeper it tends to be a penalty so I thought it was a penalty.
What have you made of West Ham’s year?
The players have done a brilliant job this year. Just after January we kicked into gear a little bit and started going on a good run. We moved up the league a little bit and it looked like we had a chance of Europe which we were able to qualify for the first time in a long, long time at West Ham. We had a good pre-season, we kicked off the season really well. So I’ve got to see the players have done a remarkable job in where they have come in a year. But even if I look at it over two years now, and this year, we’re now getting talked about a team competing in the top half of the league. We have a lot to do to improve the standards again, we have to up what we are doing and we’re going to have to play better than we did today. But it was a good win away from home.
What influence did Mark Noble have today?
He gave me the performance I really hoped for and the leadership and quality from someone who has had so many games at the club, he knows what it means and knew that we had been in a sticky period and he handled it no problem. Overall he was probably as good as anybody on the pitch today with how he performed and the way he led the team so I have to give him big plaudits for it. He has had to sit behind Declan and Tomas a bit this year and there are games that will suit Mark and today was one that suited him.
Jarrod Bowen was really good today, how impressed have you been with him this season?
His assists today were really important for us, his link-up play and his build-up [was good] today. His combination with Vladimir Coufal on the right-hand side especially in the first half, but I think him making the goals was a sign of his maturity and getting better with his last pass and final decision. If I am being fair he is the forward who has had good standards in recent games and the one who has kept that up and I am glad because we have needed him.
He has been mentioned for England?
I’d love it if Jarrod Bowen was [called up] but I think the competition in that position with the players who play off the right for England. Off the top my head Sancho, Greenwood, Sterling, Rashford. I think the level of the players and there are probably a few more I forgot to mention. I think that’s probably where Jarrod has found it really difficult with the level of competition. He’s come from the Championship and I think the biggest compliment I can give him is people now see him as a Premier League player and I think that says a lot. We want him to get more goals and keep getting assists but I agree he played well today.
Every player embraced Nikola Vlasic after his first goal for West Ham?
I think it has felt like a big wait for us all for him to get a goal but he has shown really good finishing [in training] in the work we do. He can score, he is accurate and has power, but he has not really got himself a chance or an opportunity. I have to say today Jarrod made it really easy for him but ultimately, hopefully it will help Niki and it is good the players understood how much it meant to him
