David Moyes
What are your thoughts on the performance?
The performance was not great and it wasn’t great on Saturday either and fortunately enough we got two wins from it. We will need to improve if we are going to stay where we are and do what we are doing, we are going to have to play much better that is for sure.
What was your initial reaction to seeing the Kurt Zouma story and how do you feel that tallies with the club’s statement that they completely condone his actions?
I am really disappointed and the club have taken all the actions they can do at the moment and working on it behind the scenes. My job is to try and pick a team which gives me the best chance at West Ham and Kurt was part of that team.
At any point does that become a moral decision?
For me yes because I am a big animal lover and I think it is something that will have affected a lot of people so I am really disappointed with it but my job tonight was to try and win for West Ham and put the best team out I could to give me that chance.
Can you shed any light on the action the club will take?
No, I think the club would rather deal with that and in time they will let you know what the action is.
Does it send the wrong message that he played tonight? In any other walk of life he would be suspended pending an investigation but he played and people find that very strange given what is out there.
As I said earlier I was really disappointed with what I saw and what I was told. But overall my job tonight was to get a win for West Ham, of course there are people who are disappointed with that and I understand that totally.
Have you seen the video?
Yes I have.
How did you feel when you saw it?
I was really really disappointed as I am a big animal lover and someone who cares a lot about my dogs and horses
Will you speak with him or is that a separate matter for the club?
The club are dealing with it, I have already spoken to him and we will move on as much as we can. We wanted to try and get this game out of the way and we understand it is something which not everybody will be pleased about in fact nobody will be pleased about. It is a really poor situation.
In hindsight do you think this was the wrong decision?
My feeling was Kurt has apologised and I understand that a lot of people will not just accept an apology I understand that. But to me, he came out and he said that very honestly and as I said before I had to do my job then and that was to pick the best team I possibly could.
What is Kurt’s head like at the minute?
Well, he is obviously really disappointed and we have all felt it through the team and the club. But we are all on the same feeling it was something which was completely out of order and something we did not expect from Kurt we did not see that in his character. We’ve not see that from him in anything we have come across with him so we are really disappointed.
How late was the decision to include him in the team?
I always felt that I had to try and separate them and let the club do their side and do my side which is the football side.
Are you concerned it sends a message to your squad that they can do things like this and not get dropped?
You are talking to one of the most disciplinarian managers there is. I will always act if I think that it has to be done. I have told you we are really disappointed with, the club are dealing with it and I look after the football side and I had to try and get a result tonight and Kurt at the moment is in our first eleven so the decision was to play him.
