David Moyes
Is it fair to say you missed a little bit of spark today?
I was pleased that our play was improving it is something which I tried to make better and I think we showed that for long parts of the game we controlled it but we didn’t have the difference upfront but I have to say they didn’t either. We gave them a terrible goal and that was it. It was a game with very few chances if truth be told.
What was terrible about the goal?
Terrible defending, too easy to score against us. We have done well but when you are really competing you have to be right on it all the time and we just switched off for a second.
The European places have tightened up and you are still well in the mix, what is key between now and the end of the season for you?
It is very easy, keep winning. Winning is the big thing, we have to keep winning and try and do that. I don’t think we deserved to lose today so we have to try and pick it up and get the next win under our belts as quickly as we can.
Does it feel like the Champions League may be out of reach now?
I think because we lost today I had set my target and I knew where I felt we had to go that defeat might be costly for us. But you never know in football so I might be saying something different in time it is only my judgment. We had a good win at Burnley and I knew that we couldn’t afford a defeat. Overall we beat at Goodison and they beat us today so the games have been pretty tight, but I think overall we did not deserve to lose the game today.
Was there a sense of tiredness in the squad?
I have not seen it because our figures have been great, our running, our physicality every game, we have been in great condition and I thought we were today as well. Manuel Lanzini was playing very well and picked up an injury, Aaron Cresswell got a challenge which caused a problem, but overall I think the players have been in great condition and been very good. Look we lose one of our best players [Declan Rice] playing for England and not playing for West Ham and it certainly has had an impact in recent games.
Is there any chance Declan will be available for the next game and any news on Lanzini?
Lanzini had an injury at the top of his thigh and it looks as if it is the top of his thigh or a groin strain that he had before. Cressie I think was a dead leg which won’t be so bad if that is the case. Declan I am not putting a time on it yet, I can’t do that just now.
Obviously, Manchester United have now qualified for the Champions League and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has hinted he will play a weakened team in at least one of the next two games which are against two of your top-four rivals. How do you feel about that?
It was very interesting when we were coming back from the pandemic when the league.. when we were third from bottom there was an awful lot of integrity required to get the league up and going and we thought that was the right way to go so Ole can do what he likes. It is his team, his club and he deserves to do what he wants. I don;t know if there was a better way to sort the fixtures out, maybe somebody will know better what the choices were, but the Premier League have made that decision and there is nothing I can do about it. I think Man United can always put out a strong team whoever they have got but at the moment I think our chances of a Champions League are slim at the moment but we will keep going for it.
Are you worried the integrity will be compromised?
No. It is up to the Premier League to answer these questions and to tell us why it is the case. but I would hope not we have been through a really difficult 18 months and I think everybody has tried to do the best they can.
The fact that Dominic Calvert-Lewin managed to take his chance and Said Benrahma and Jarrod did not, does that prove the value of having a clinical natural finisher on the pitch or the option of that?
We have Micky on the pitch who we see as a good finisher and good at scoring goals so he was there as well as the other ones. We had a lot of chances against Burnley the other night which we did not take and we should have taken more so maybe there was something in that that we are not taking as many opportunities as we should be at the moment.
Do you feel you have had a rotten run of luck with injuries?
No, I actually think we have had a great year with injuries we really have. It is difficult when you lose some of your players at key times but all clubs had had that. You look right at the start of the season when Pickford and Virgil van Dijk and you look at what the injury did to Liverpool. Overall we have been pretty good with injuries and I cannot complain really.
Moyes on Europe
If we qualify for Europe it will be an incredible achievement no matter what tournament we are in because it has been a great season and we are hoping we can keep it going.
Has Said Benrahma struggled to adapt to the Premier League?
I think it is difficult for many players who come to the Premier League, you often see big buys coming in, people who have spent big money on players and it takes them some time to settle. The Premier League is very demanding, it is different from what is required of other leagues so this is a big step up for Said just as it was for Jarrod Bowen who has started and done very well for us. It is the same for Said. Said has had some really good performances for us but as you can see he has a lot to do, and there is a lot to learn and there is a lot to make sure he improves as he goes forward and I am sure he will.
