David Moyes
How do you go about summing that game up?
Really difficult, I’m disappointed. We started the game really well, probably as well as we’ve played. Probably tonight, we made more opportunities than we did against Southampton. We gave away a terrible first and second goal but not as bad as the third and fourth goal, so that makes it very difficult when you do that. I thought we were competitive in the first half, I thought we were certainly unlucky to be 2-0 down, but not by the standard of our defending. We got back in it and actually, we were a bit unlucky not to get a second goal just before half-time. At 2-1 at half time, ‘I’m saying we’re right in the game here, go about your job, do the right things.’ Within 15/20 seconds, we had probably given ourselves a mountain to climb by giving away a third goal.
How shocked were you by the defensive mistakes, considering your normal solidity at the back?
I’ve got a new sort of back four at the moment. I’ve said many times to the boys who are here regularly, it’s going to take a bit of time for the boys to get used to it. Anybody who has played or who knows the game knows that everybody can make mistakes and individual mistakes, especially being a defender, it can happen. We had two in one game tonight which you very rarely get that. Getting one is bad enough, but to get two individual ones was a real shock. Nevertheless, I thought the players kept fighting, the character showed through, they tried to keep it going. In the end, we weren’t good enough on the night to get a result.
How damaging could this result be given your recent form, especially at home?
It could be (damaging), but I try to look at it in a positive spin. If I got a draw against Southampton and a draw tonight, I would’ve got two points. Played two games and we’ve taken three points if we’re looking at this batch of games at the moment. I have to look at that in a positive way if I can. Obviously, after taking three against Southampton, I would’ve liked to have taken three tonight to get six. We’ve won one out of two games in this batch of games I’m looking at, I have to look at it in a positive way if I possibly can.
Do the players need to take responsibility for that based on their errors?
As a manager, you always have to do it. I’m sitting here, standing up, and I have to come up front and answer the questions. You’ve watched the game. You can write what you see. I’m a big boy, I’ve left jobs at other times in the past and if this one happens, well then I would have to go with that if that’s the case. I really like my job here. I really like the people I work for. I’ve enjoyed my time greatly and I’m hoping there are a couple of big days ahead of us in the not-too-distant future.
Does it show Nayef Aguerd needs time to adjust to the Premier League after his mistake?
No, it’s not acceptable. We’ve had others and actually, those who are here regularly will know we were at Rangers when he got his injury with something very similar, so it’s not acceptable.
Declan Rice has said that there is no way you have lost the backing of him or the players, what does that mean to you?
I would hate to think you would ever lose your players because you are supporting them greatly all of the time. The one thing I said right away is I think the attitude and the character of the players [was good] and even at 3-1, we get a second goal and we’re really in with a chance tonight but we couldn’t, and in fact, what we did is we gave away a really poor fourth, which put the game well beyond doubt. Look, Declan is a good player, there was parts of tonight in the first half where he was superb, bursting past people and getting forward, the run he made into the box and then he slipped it into Micky Antonio, and people who saw us at the weekend will know we probably made more opportunities to score tonight than we did against Southampton, we won the game 1-0 there. We need to clear up on our defensive work.
What would your message be to supporters after tonight?
I have to say, the support before the game was fantastic, the noise in the stadium and actually, they helped us in the first five minutes and actually, I think they saw a really positive team. We’re trying to get at Newcastle who are a team in the main who start the games very well and have done. I thought we started very well and to go a goal down, we head the ball away for a corner kick which gives them the chance to get it. If you said I was under great pressure, you look at it and see really, really poor decision making.
Can you see the relegation battle going right down to the wire?
I think it could, yes, I think it could. I think it’s very tight, but there’s that big a bundle of teams, you never know how it is going to go. You get a really good three points here on Sunday, if we had taken a point tonight or three points, it would have been a really good lift. We didn’t, we’ve been given a spanking and it’s up to us to show on the rebound what we can do from that.
Are you wary of going in too hard on your team after that to ruin any confidence?
I’ve not gone in on the team hard tonight because I think when you’ve made individual mistakes, you don’t need to be told. If you said it was huge tactical errors in it. Again, with the first goal, we hard it out for a corner, we defend the corner quite well, we don’t defend the second ball particularly well. The second goal was, I couldn’t even use the words I would like to use on my thoughts on the second goal, the centre half can kick it right through you and someone can run off the line and run through you and get in. Goals three and four were individual mistakes.
Can you take any positives from the fact you haven’t got any nearer to the relegation zone?
That’s what I said. Maybe if we had drawn against Southampton and drawn tonight, we might have thought ‘hey, two decent points,’ but it’s the wins that are important. We didn’t get the win tonight. It would’ve been great if we got a point or it would’ve been great if we got a win, but we didn’t so I could only take what I’ve got at the moment. My only job I’m interested in is keeping West Ham in a healthy position in the league and we’ve still got ten games to go now.
