David Moyes
What are your thoughts after that crazy game?
We played really well for about thirty minutes, maybe as well as we have played for a while so I was really pleased with that. Unfortunately, we just gave a goal away just before half-time, it was a shot that was going wide and it hits Tomas [Soucek] so that changes the game a bit but I have to say Arsenal played well and made it difficult for us in the second half. We are disappointed we didn’t take three points but I am not disappointed that we played against Arsenal and gave them a good game and tried to make it as hard as we can for them and challenge them right to the end.
Are you surprised by the reaction after going 3-0 up and did some old habits creep in?
Well I get the chance to see the players every day and obviously like all clubs we have our weaknesses and we have to try and do everything to protect them, sometimes it will happen and I think we played against a good team today as well who have been in good form. They beat Tottenham last week and they are in the quarter-finals of the Europa League as well so they are in a bit of decent form. We did not allow them to show it in the first-half because we were all over them really for most of it, but certainly, in the second half we struggled to hang in there and then we had the moments to win the game and we did not take those chances.
There were a couple of contentious decisions from the referee what is your take on that?
I don’t really want to discuss the referee, to be honest, and I am not going to but I agree the officiating was tough for the players today and that is all on that.
Was Michail Antonio’s miss at 3-2 a key moment?
Yeah, it was a key moment because we had got ourselves in a situation where we needed to counter and just try and see the game out a little bit so that big chance we got and we just didn’t quite take it. It was an important chance. I have not seen it back yet to see how easy or not it was but at the time it felt as if it was going to end up in the net.
What are the positives and negatives from this game?
We had lots of positives because of how well we played. I thought we played really well for thirty minutes, we scored three goals against Arsenal which is… But the negatives are how we have to control the ball better and keep it. When we were 3-0 up we gave the ball away so I actually thought it was as much to do with us giving the ball away as it was to do with Arsenal. We continually gave them chances to build attacks and build pressure and there were a few things we need to do better generally.
Is there any reason after that why you can’t finish in the top four?
Well, what we have done is to make sure we keep going and that is all we can do, I want to try and go as long as we possibly can and try to keep the dream alive and we can challenge. Let’s be fair we feel as if we have lost two points today but we have come a long way if we are disappointed that we are only drawing against Arsenal. We did a lot of good things today and I am hoping we can show it in the games coming up.
Is the international reak particularly worrying with the covid situation in the Czech Republic for Soucek and Coufal and have you got assurances they will be in bubbles?
We have and it is a bit of a concern fo9r us. A couple of times going to the Czech Republic it has not been so good, they had problems the last two times from what I can remember. In Poland as well you can see it is not the best situation but we have had reassurances from all the doctors from all the nations that everything will be correct and all the bubbles will be correct and I think UEFA have a responsibility as well that everything is carried out correctly and that there is no way that anything could be compromised.
After a game like this, what do you say to the players?
Well, I am not happy because of how it ended, and most importantly they weren’t happy. They knew that we had given up a really good chance. I am also very aware that we were up against a good side in good form and these games are going to be tough and it is never going to be easy. With us going 3-0 up you think things are going to be okay but not against the quality of sides such as the better Premier League sides. They can keep going and keep playing and Arsenal never changed and they have got some really top players and made it really hard for us. Overall the players are disappointed and we are really disappointed we did not win the game but we are not disappointed with parts of what they did today, they showed a lot of good things.
What was the reason you were unable to hold on?
I think it was all to do with Arsenal and Arsenal’s ability and qualities and standard of players they have. I think their attacking players were very good. We had difficulty in coping with certain aspects of what they did and when we had a chance to keep the ball and retain it better we did not do as well as we should have done and on the counter-attack moments we had to make it 4-2 we did not take them. It was a tough game and the goal just before half-time changed it and maybe altered the way we saw things but it is a draw against Arsenal, it is not the best result but not the worst result.
What is the general feeling in the dressing room after that result?
We are really disappointed, there is a general feeling of disappointment with the officiating today but I think the players are disappointed that they did not do the job well enough. We did not keep the ball even when we went 3-0 up we just gave Arsenal a foothold in the game because we stepped off the gas a little bit, stepped back, and we gave them an opportunity to grow into the game a little but which we had not done really at the start of the game.
