What is the latest on the fitness of Craig Dawson, Aaron Cresswell and Ben Johnson?
Craig Dawson and Aaron Cresswell have travelled, but Ben Johnson hasn’t travelled. We will have a look at them, obviously, we will have to check out what we think for them regarding the surface etc. We bought them with us. They are both getting nearer to fitness. Craig has had six weeks out, and Cressy has only had two weeks out, really, but we need to just make sure that their injuries are okay. They have done a bit of training.
Has Silkeborg’s artificial pitch had an effect on the team you are planning to select?
Yes, it’s given me some thoughts. We respect that it’s an artificial pitch, and we have to come here and win and play a good game on the pitch as well. I’ve also got to respect that maybe I’ve got one or two players who maybe the surface doesn’t suit, so we have to think of that also.
How pleasing is it to have almost a fully-fit squad available for the first time this season?
If you look at the first three games of the season, we only had one central defender to pick from, which was really hard to take. You heard Thilo [Kehrer] talk, he’s right so much in that he says he’s adapted, and he’s adapted quite quickly. The truth is, he’s got so much more to give, and we’ve had Craig Dawson out, who has been injured since the Servette game, so that shows how long ago that was. Obviously, we were hoping that Angelo [Ogbonna] would be really at full fitness right from the start, but not quite. He’s doing great with the way he has come back, but he’s still picking up really with it. We’re certainly getting much closer to having them all fully fit, and I’m going to need them because the games are Thursday and Sunday. This week, obviously because of the situation, meaning that we missed a weekend game out, which has just given us a little bit of breathing space for the next two games, being this one and Everton.
Is Maxwel Cornet okay after coming off against FCSB?
He was fine. He actually felt it more in his neck. It wasn’t really his head. I think he landed and hurt his neck a little bit, but Maxi is fine. He has been training.
How has it been having a full week between matches?
What I have tried to do is give the players a bit more time to themselves and a bit more time off. We are integrating a lot of new players who maybe need to go home and get some clothes or bring their family over, or they have got dogs or whatever it may be. There are bits of all of that which have to take place while trying to prepare the team as well.
Is that a side that people don’t sometimes appreciate when you make a large number of signings?
They have families, and they have families to see or meet. If somebody takes you away from your home right away, you need a bit of time to carry out a lot of other things, checking everything is okay at home or that your bills are all paid or giving your rent up. There are a lot of things that come into it. Fortunately, we’ve got a really good player care time that look after things here, and most of that is done, but you still need a little bit of time for that.
What did you make of last week’s win over FCSB?
We didn’t really enjoy how we were in the first half. We picked up, but we watched it back, and we missed a lot of chances in the first half, which could have made it all look a lot different. We lose a goal round about the 30 minute mark, and it looks as if maybe we’re not as good as we thought. Watching it back, we played some good stuff and made some chances. We just didn’t take them, but in the second half, we changed it up. I think it’s what we’ve got now. We’ve probably got a stronger group of players, and I have probably got a bigger choice now than I’ve probably had before. It also, partly because we didn’t have a game at the weekend, means that I could quite easily play any of the players tomorrow night.
Was making a triple change at half-time a message to the players about the competition you now have?
Sometimes [you are] getting it right, sometimes you do that, and you are getting it wrong. We felt we weren’t quite getting it, we needed to up the ante and go again. Look, we are going to do it a lot more now with the chance to play five subs, having 12 players on the bench gives you a chance to make a lot of changes as well. I think certainly these games at the moment, we’d like to give players who we want opportunities to play, but we also are in the process of trying to find our own form and get into the rhythm and try and play in a good fashion. All that comes into your thinking in trying to get the win, but also trying to get people minutes as well.
Does last week’s match show that it is still possible to get a banana skin in this competition?
Undoubtedly. If you look through all the results from the competition last week, I think there was only Basel who beat a team 3-1. We won 3-1, there wasn’t another game that was one than more than 1-0, 0-0, 2-1, 1-1. The games were incredibly tight. I said it last year when I went to Europe. It’s okay when you look back and say, ‘yes, you’ve done that quite simply,’ but all of the games for us had a real level of difficulty. We took some risks last year, and strangely enough, we will have to continue probably taking some risks at different times of the competition to see if we can do it because of the level of the Premier League and what is required at the weekend. We learned a lot from last year and learned that if you’re not correct, you will easily get turned over by the other teams.
As a coach, how tough is it to play on a plastic pitch? Do you have to tell your players to play in a different way?
There are a lot of different ways of looking at it. I, as a player, played on a plastic pitch for about three years, so I have got a good idea of how you can play, and there are different ways and different philosophies and different ways of how it should be done. I have to say, in modern football nowadays, I don’t see the top-level players really wanting to play on astroturf pitches. I totally respect it because I think for young players, for development and younger age group pitches, with the weather conditions, I am from Scotland, so I know that very well, pitches are so important. But I actually think when you get to top-level football, we are used to natural, and this will be different for us, and we have to take that into consideration.
Does it help your preparations that you were here three weeks ago playing against another Danish team in Viborg?
I think all it’s done is make us familiar with the surroundings because we were staying close by to where we were just now, so that’s made it a little bit easier. In truth, the travel here has been very easy from London, a short flight. All of those things play a part, and you are hoping that you get good draws as far as travel goes as well. Last year, we had games that mainly kicked off at 6pm. Now, we’ve mainly got games that kick-off at 8pm, which is not good for us because our travel is affected differently, the return times are different, but I think if you are going to be a European team, you have to start getting used to it, and we have to start finding out more about how we handle it. Last year, I talked about how we deal with the referees, how we handle that, and the different styles of play, and I actually think Silkeborg play a really good style, and I’ve got to say, I thought Viborg did as well. There are different ways to look about it, when we come up against teams from different countries who play differently, but that’s why you want to be in Europe because you know you are coming up against different situations.
Is there a reason why your kick-off times have changed from last year or is it the luck of the draw?
I think this year, with Manchester United being in the Europa League and it being a Thursday night game in the Conference League, we have probably been seen as playing second to that. Last year, I think all of the media and all of the television broadcasters were really keen to see how West Ham do in their first year back in Europe, and we got a lot of the earlier kick-off times, which makes it much easier to travel straight back after the game. This affects that more for us, and the bigger thing and the bigger picture is trying to make sure it doesn’t have a big effect on your fixture on Sunday.
What are you expecting from Silkeborg tomorrow night?
Silkeborg are a really good passing team. I’ve actually seen it a lot in Danish football at the moment, I have to say. I think Denmark is showing lots of traits maybe similar to Holland as well in how they play. I think the teams are technically trying to do the right things, trying to play in the right fashion, so we know that is what we are up against. The Premier League is a huge technical level, it is also a very high level of tactical situations, but obviously, the Premier League is so tight where you might not get the chance to play so easily from the back, and it doesn’t maybe matter if you concede a goal, it’s really really different. It will be interesting and Silkeborg being on their home pitch will be a test for us.
How is Tomas Soucek and his foot injury?
Tomas is okay. He’s had a kick in the foot. Tomas hasn’t trained for most of the week, and if the game against Newcastle was to be played, Tomas would have been a doubt because of an injury he had to his foot. Tomas Soucek has been back training now, so he should be okay.
Will the training session on the pitch ahead of the game give you an idea of what to expect?
It won’t give me an idea of what to expect. It will give me an idea and the players an idea of maybe how they see the ball rolling. We talked about the bounce of the ball and the speed of the ball. I don’t think any Premier League team would train on an Astroturf pitch at all. You would only do that if it snows and you go indoors, but even so, most of them have underheating pitches and facilities to allow them to train outdoors. It is something we have to work with and do the best we can.
How important is it to win your group as opposed to coming second and having an additional two-legged knockout match?
At this moment in time, it doesn’t sound as important, but you know what it’s like when you get into January, and qualifying would be fantastic. Last year, we got out of the blocks really, really fast, and we got the results, but maybe, we just ran out of steam getting into the semi-final etc. I hope this year, we can maybe build up, maybe not quite as fast out of the blocks but enough to get through, then get into the rounds in which we really start to get into form. That’s a little bit with a mindset of new players, how we are getting them in, trying to get them all bits of time, trying to fit them into the right positions.
Do you think the squad you have assembled will allow you to do that in the later rounds of the competition?
I think we have got a good squad of players. I think we have got a really good squad of players. We’ve got really good characters as well, like Thilo, for example. I think they feel it as well, which is good. What we have to do is show it by our results. There have been signs, we played well against Tottenham, we won at Villa, we were unlucky at Chelsea, we won in midweek, so we’ve just shown signs that we are getting back to a little bit of form. In truth, we have still got a way to go. Every day when I look at training, I can say ‘whose he, what’s he, who’s he, what’s that one’ because we’ve got eight or nine new players every day in a group of maybe 18 or 20 players. That in itself is a big change.
Chelsea owner Todd Boehly recently suggested a North vs South all-star match at the end of the season. Do you think that would be a good idea?
I just don’t know where there is any more room for any more games in football. We play a Charity Shield at the start of the season, and I believe we give all of the money to charity. For us to have things like a north/south divide at the moment, I don’t think we need that. I think what we are trying to do is make our country one, and at the moment, we are trying to build better roads and better rail lines between the north and south, never mind putting two teams out against each other.
When you were a young coach, did you ever come to Denmark?
No, but I’ve got a friend here from Iceland. I used to go to Iceland every year, so I am very aware of this part of the world. I’ve been to Copenhagen. I used to go regular to watch games in Copenhagen, and I always enjoyed a beer in Copenhagen. It was always very nice. I’ve really enjoyed it. We were here a few weeks ago, and it is a lovely part of the world where we are, it feels really peaceful, and it looks like a very nice place to live.
How do you feel the players and fans responded in last week’s game shortly after the death of Queen Elizabeth II had been announced?
I thought it was a really difficult night, and it probably showed a little bit in that the atmosphere was subdued and exactly how we all probably wanted it and expected it. The club did a brilliant job in getting things correct and everything at the last minute, it shows a lot. West Ham is a very British club, and because of that, we supported our Queen, and I thought we did a really good job.
