What is the latest injury news?
Gianluca has done a little bit of training, so we will see how he is. Probably lacking a bit of match practice and match fitness, that would be my biggest worry but he’s done a bit of training so hopefully he will be okay. Nayef is still sort of coming back from illness which we’re still trying to get him over. He’s had a few days training which has helped but obviously he’s lost a bit of weight from the World Cup, so we’re trying to build him back up. If I can get him involved, I will. I will make a decision tomorrow but if you’re asking me is he ready, I don’t believe he’s quite ready yet, no.
Today is your third year anniversary at the club in your second spell, do you need a restart like the one you produced when you first arrived?
I think the idea when we came in was to try and build the club up again and get us back into position. We’ve certainly done that very quickly, maybe quicker than we all expected. Once you get there, you want to hang on to it as long as you can. We took over in not a particularly good position when we came into the job, but I’ve got to say the last two or three years has been very good. Actually, it’s not easy to be in the job for three years in the Premier League now, it doesn’t give you that chance sometimes. I’m very pleased to have had the time to work with the players and I think we’ve shown what we can do.
Why do you think that so far, it’s not gone quite as well as it has done in previous years?
I think that we’ve introduced quite a few new players and we’ve tried to bed them in to a team that’s been relatively steady over a few years. I still see that as probably the major thing and also, you can’t keep the same team for that long, we have to look to move on and we attempted to do that in the summer as well. We are giving those players a chance to show exactly what they can do.
A survey today says West Ham have the fourth highest attendance in world football. How important is that home crowd?
Well the home crowd are vital, no matter where you are. You look at the clubs in the Premier League, the support they have and the home support is huge. We’ve had that as well. We’ve got a stadium that can hold big numbers, over 60,000 now. We’ve done our best in the last two years to get it filled more often than not and we’ve got much closer to that than probably what’s been done before. We’ve had some incredible nights in the stadium where we’ve been in Europe last year, even this year, where we’ve had some big results. We’ve had some big wins, Premier League wins, as well in the stadium. That itself goes to bring more people in. I’ve been really keen to bring in more new West Ham supporters, and I think we’ve got a lot of good players, a lot of young players that they can look up. The east end of London is a big West Ham area so hopefully, we can keep driving them and getting them to the stadium. Again, you have to give credit to the club, who have also made tickets, I think, affordable to a lot of people to get to games. A lot of credit has to go to the club for that.
How important are the next few league games?
I think it doesn’t matter whoever you’ve got, they’re all crucial, every game in the Premier League really matters. Most people are either fighting for Europe, fighting at the bottom of the league, trying to get higher up in their league position. I think all of the games are really important, whether you are playing teams not quite high up or the top teams. I think the competitive nature of the Premier League means there are no easy games. From that point of view, every game you get in the Premier League is really tough.
Declan Rice said after the Arsenal loss that you’re not in the relegation battle, do you think nine or ten teams in the relegation battle?
We’ve recently been much more used to being in the top half of the league so we don’t enjoy the position we’re in. We recognise it and we have to win a few games and get out of it.
There are reports that you are under pressure and that this is a must win games, is that the case?
No, not at all. I’ve got great support from David Sullivan. At the moment, I’d say your sources are not correct. I feel [they are wide of the mark] at the moment. I’m not daft, you are always under pressure as a football manager. Nobody can get really over that. Most managers, if you lose a few games, you are always going to be under a bit of pressure.
Because of your achievements in the last three years, do you think you deserve more time?
You can say that, that’s not for me to say that, that’s for other people to say that if that’s the case. You’ve got to come in here and try to raise expectations wherever you go, I think we’ve done that. We’ve had some really good seasons in the last two years, probably done a lot better. We’re just disappointed we’ve not done as well at the moment, but we plan to do a lot better and we’re working towards that.
How much have injuries to your new signings affected you?
I think (Nayef) Aguerd getting injured in pre-season was a huge miss, we played the first four games of the season with one centre-back. We had a problem with (Craig) Dawson, a thigh strain, and he’s been very important to us the season before. So that impacted on us as well. The new players, we’d have liked to have got them earlier but we’re still happy to get them. Overall the injuries at the start played its part, yeah.
How are you going about trying to beat Brentford?
We’ll go about the game the way we have done for long periods. We’ll do everything we can to win, we’ll try and attack them, we’ll try and defend well when we are put under pressure, we’ll try and do all the things required to get a result.
How do you think Brentford have done and what do you think of Thomas Frank’s new contract?
I think Thomas Frank has done a really good job and I think Brentford have done a really good job. They knocked on the door for about three years in the play-offs and didn’t quite make it. They’ve got themselves in the Premier League, they are dong a really good job, the model they’ve got. It’s different from many clubs but it’s a good one. With the contract it makes the players realise that the board have faith in Thomas Frank and they are going to stick with him, so stay on the right path and I think they are doing an awful lot of good things and deserve credit for that.
Are you looking to strengthen in January?
No, we’ve said we don’t think we’ll be doing an awful lot of business in January. That could change but I don’t see us doing an awful lot of business, no.
What do you make of 2022 and what’s your new year’s resolution for 2023?
Not setting any new year’s resolutions yet but I think a lot of 2022 was really good for us. We’ve probably not started this part of 2022 as good as we’d have liked but generally 2022 has been really good for us, competing in big competitions right up to the latter stages so from that point of view we’d have to be pleased with it.
Would your transfer plans change if anyone left?
I think if players left we’d look to replace them but at the moment I’ve got no indication of that so we’ll see how it goes.
Is there any update on Declan Rice’s future?
There will be no chance Declan Rice leaves in this window if that’s what you are talking about.
