#PLStories- West Ham’s David Moyes on Man United FA Cup defeat, Michail Antonio and Nayef Aguerd #WHUFC
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David Moyes
Do you feel unfortunate to not win that game?
We had a great opportunity to get through tonight and we blew it in my eyes. I thought we had a great chance to get through, I really did. We played well for the best part of about 80 minutes and we just couldn’t see it through really. We could have got a second goal, but while we didn’t get a second goal, we had to make sure we didn’t concede and we ended up giving away a couple of really ridiculous goals.
How big were the two chances Michail Antonio didn’t take?
Big chances, yes and also I don’t know who nearly got on the end of the cross we put in in the second half, I think it was Tomas Soucek. We had moments where we really could have got the game. I thought the worst it was going to end up was it was going to go to extra time, I thought that was the worst we were going to get out of the game. For us to end up the way it did was really disappointing because I hadn’t saw that in the rest of the game, but in the last 5-10 minutes we gave away a couple of ridiculous opportunities to them.
When Michail Antonio gets a chance to impress and score like tonight, does he have to take those?
That is the way football is, isn’t it? You get given your opportunities and you take your chances,. He had two one on ones with the goalkeeper, so they were big chances to score. I have become more disappointed with the end. I thought the worst we could have done was make sure we didn’t concede the goals we did do. Anybody can score an own goal, it can happen to anybody, nobody tries to do it, but at least see it out and take it to extra time. I have to say Man United put more pressure on us in that period of the game but for long periods, 60/70 per cent of the game, we had a good control and made ourselves good chances as well.
Just an off night for Nayef Aguerd?
I hope so because he has been someone we really like. I’ve sort of said it to my local boys, it is going to take him a bit of time to settle in to the Premier League and it is moments like that when you see level of the game, the intensity, how tough [it is] and how much pressure you are put under by good players and good teams in the Premier League. They are the sort of things I have been alluding to without saying it directly, which I think Nayef will have to get used to.
Do you back him to use tonight’s like tonight as a positive?
Yes, no doubt. I think it is a journey for him. I think if we got him right at the start of the season, I think by this time he would have been through this period but it was always going to be a little bit of a settling in period. He has played very well and he played very well tonight up until the last 10 minutes or so.
Despite how the game ended, do you feel there are lots of positives from how you played before the equaliser?
Huge. I’ve told the players I’m more disappointed that we didn’t get through, I really am. I thought we had a great opportunity tonight to knock United out and for long periods we played well enough to be considered a team that was going to beat them and go through.. We just didn’t get over the final bit, we didn’t get over the bit you need to do and sticking at it. We didn’t do the basics well enough, we didn’t do some of the basics well enough on the defensive situation, we cleared one into a man instead of getting it cleared. We kicked one out for a corner kick where they scored from a corner kick. Some real simple, simple things, which we hope we wouldn’t give away.
Are those simple mistakes down to pressure?
It’s also when you are playing against good teams. Those players have played against Man United who are always a threat even when they are not. There was times tonight when I thought Man United hadn’t got their shooting boots on and I think we’ve got a chance here, a real chance tonight and I thought we gave them a chance tonight. I thought we gave them the opportunity rather than them.
Did Jarrod Bowen have a bit of a knock?
He did, he had a bit of a sore shin and into his ankle. It gave me a chance to play Pablo.
It was clearly not serious enough to not use him entirely?
It wasn’t that bad that I couldn’t use him but he had been sitting for the last day or so with ice on his ankle. I’m trying not to make it any worse than it was, I just thought that later on, maybe he might have given us a little bit extra when I bought him on.
Because you are playing well as a 4-3-3, do you see yourselves sticking with it?
Yes, I probably would be but I’ve got to also maybe be flexible for other teams and I might need to play three at the back. Our biggest problem and our need to change was because of a lack of central defenders. We are playing two left footers at the moment, quite often teams will play two right footers, but it is more of a rarity to see two left footers. While we are waiting on Kurt Zouma coming back and Daws left in the window, it’s just meant we’ve just been a little bit short there.
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