David Moyes
David Moyes has said that he would have taken parity heading into tomorrow’s night Europa League quarter-final second leg “all day long”. Except the task facing West Ham United in Lyon is complicated by the left side of their defence being absent, with one expected replacement in his secondary position and the other desperately short of action. Moyes is aware of the defensive imbalance but made a point in his pre-match press conference to stress his confidence in Diop, the French centre back who has completed 90 minutes only three times in the past three months.
David Moyes said: “Issa’s not really let us down. He’s come into the team on different occasions. There was a period when we relied on him. He’s always been there or thereabouts, so hopefully if he gets that opportunity, he’s able to take it.”
The rest of the starting XI will likely remain unchanged from Brentford, aside from Alphonse Areola returning in goal, and Moyes has said that the quality from their performance in the first half last week will “need to rise” if they are to progress to face Barcelona or Eintracht Frankfurt in the last four. A goal from striker Michail Antonio would certainly help. The Jamaica international has only found the net once since New Year’s Day, in the FA Cup game away to Southampton, but believes he is still contributing in other ways.
Michail Antonio said: “I”m disappointed I’ve not scored for quite a while. But football is not about you personally, it’s about being a team player. That’s one thing I definitely believe I am doing, bringing players in and assisting goals. So as much as I’m not scoring them, I feel that I am helping out anyway.”
There is a feeling that this squad can thrive in the face of adversity with the second half at London Stadium evidence of their tenacity.
David Moyes added: “We’ve got a great chance. If you’d have given me this, I’d have taken that off you all day long. 1-1 at this stage in the competition is a really powerful position to be in. We’ve got a wee bit of toughness about us which I think we showed, playing 45 minutes with ten men – let’s see what we can do when we’ve got eleven men.”
