David Moyes
How frustrating that you could not maintain the score at 2-2?
I was more disappointed with the last ten minutes than any other part of the game because we gave away that third goal when we had got ourselves back in the game. Those ten minutes at the end were the most disappointing bits really.
What would you say about the two first-half goals and the two yellow cards for Craig Dawson?
I would say they were two really poor goals that we conceded, I don’t think it was we played badly or that Newcastle played well necessarily I think it was because we gave away two really poor decisions. Bad control which led to the sending off and the goal and we made a mistake which can happen in the game. The bigger thing is the character of the players to play with ten men to keep believing there was a chance to score and we got our rewards because we did that. We had not played badly in the first half but I have got to say if you give bad passes away and make mistakes then it could be classed as that.
How bad is Jesse Lingard’s injury?
I think it was just cramp, I have not had a chance to speak to the physio about it but I don’t think it was anything serious, to be honest.
You could have gone third with a win, with Chelsea and Leicester not playing was that a chance lost do you think?
I don’t think it was a chance lost I think it was an opportunity for us to pick up three points. We have to be careful that we don’t… we like talking about the Champions League we love the sound of that when everybody says it but we are realistic. We have said before the quality of the teams around us and below us have been over this course many more times than us. But the way the players have played has been fantastic. Today we made a couple of mistakes which probably cost us the game.
Were you concerned that the first half was the flaky West Ham?
I did not think it was our football that was flaky, our decision making maybe. Maybe some of those were wrong. We did not pass the ball around the back as quickly and slickly as we should have done and in turn, it probably led to the mistakes we had but for the most part, we had pretty good control we needed to craft out and play our way into the game but obviously the goal and the sending off at the same time completely dominated the game and the second one made it very difficult. If I thought we had played badly I would be the first one to say it but I didn’t think we did at the time but we made bad mistakes which were costly for us.
How close was Aaron Cresswell to be involved and how serious is Arthur Masuaku’s injury?
They’ve both picked up injuries and we’re missing a couple others as well, it was quite a big chunk of the boys missing today. Nevertheless, I think we put in a pretty good sterling performance, disappointed about the third goal. I’m hopefully going to get the back quickly but I’m not putting any time on it.
How vital is it that you wipe this game from your memory going into the Chelsea match?
It’s not a problem. You have to play all the games and try and win them. We’ve had a good result against Leicester, Wolves and drew against Arsenal. We’ve had good results, this was tough. Newcastle have just found a bit of form, hope. We gave them a real lift by gifting them the first and second goals.
When you are building something new can you learn from experiences like today when you have gone through adversity and had to fight back?
I said to the players, there are no big issues today. We know we made mistakes. I can shout at them if I want to and tell them, I don’t think they need to be told. They’re very experienced players who have done that. I was more disappointed that we got back to 2-2, now [you say] play correctly. I’ve been in Newcastle’s position where you want to protect your lead. It is not a big drama, we’re not going to make big issues out of it. We’ve had some great results this season, this one wasn’t so good but we came very close to getting a good result I’ve got to say.
