David Moyes
How do you feel about taking West Ham into Europe?
It is a huge achievement from where we came from and probably expectations as well. We finished outside the bottom three last year and that was seen as an achievement and now we are calling this another achievement being in Europe. I think this has been one of the biggest steps we have ever made. I think to jump this far so quickly has been absolutely huge. great credit to the players I think they have been brilliant from the start. We lost the first two games of the season and maybe we were questioned a little bit but you have to say they have been so good so so good.
To win 3-1 and 3-0 is some way to do it as well.
It is. We mentioned the other day that in the main we have been pretty free-scoring really, there have been a couple of games recently where we couldn’t score and I just think that the players have done remarkably [well]. We have grown as a team we have actually got better, I think we are in a really good place at the moment and I think the players feel that as we and we have not got to try and take that on again and keep up the standards we are at.
What do you do now to keep it up and ensure you can compete in the Europa League?
First of all if I have this exact team and group of players I would think I will have a good chance because we have got a lot of hungry, energetic players. I am just hoping that I can add similar, and by that, I mean similar characters. Similar people who have performed at an incredible level this season. You need good players to be successful and I think the reason we have been successful this year is because we have brought in good players and it has allowed other good players to flourish alongside them.
Did you feel there were any nerves out there today?
I think when you get to this stage of the season the results are more important than the performances. We have had some very good performances and did not get the results. We played very well at Brighton and we certainly played very well against Everton, but we could not beat them or get a goal. But today I thought we were okay, we gave them a couple of chances early on that could have changed the way the game went completely so for us to get the goal was a big moment and actually the third one sealed it. We were always looking threatened and so did they as well, overall I thought we did a good job, and in winning 3-0 without having to play at our best says a lot about us as well.
This weekend we have seen reports of Chelsea reviving interest in Declan Rice. Will you be able to keep him this summer?
I don’t think David Sullivan, David Gold or myself have any intention of losing Declan Rice. We have just qualified for Europe, I think it is a brilliant achievement and Declan is a big part of that and we want him to be a big part of what we do next year as well.
You were here three years ago in your first spell, it probably felt a bit different to that Burnley game? Does it feel like a different club compared to back then?
It does, I agree that there are signs that West Ham is beginning to pull together, I think we are getting things much better. I remember walking around the pitch after that when we just stayed up and I think people saw that as success then. We did not stay on but it was seen as a success. But this being the first year and qualifying for Europe has been really big and I thank the board for giving me the opportunity, I thank them for trusting me and hopefully they will see that giving me trust in trying to make the right decisions will help them in the future.
Are you going to attack the Europa League because we see some managers play second-string teams, will you attack it?
I would hope I would. I would hope I will try and win all the games. But ultimately when it is a cup competition you might change your players but you have to change your players or there is no point in having a squad, you would just have 11 players. You have to have a group of players who you think are good enough to play. I actually think that the players who have stepped in for us whether it be the substitutes. Because I think the substitutes have won me games. And then when I have had a couple of injuries I have needed players to step in, so I would hope I will go into all competitions giving it a go but I cannot answer that at the moment. I do not know what our Premier League position will be and ultimately the Premier League will always be the big one to try and make sure you are a Premier League club. I hope now that being able to enjoy today being in a big game meant something, we had something to go for and the players realise this is somewhere we hope to be a bit more often now.
Are you going to have to make a European version of your quiz now?
I was having a laugh coming off the pitch with the Czech boys saying ‘great we are going to be in Europe’ but they said ‘no we have been in it plenty of times we know where to go’, they were having fun. There will be plenty of quizzes going on next year, Pearcey will be here and will be trying to make sure we give the players plenty of entertainment when the time is right.
West Ham have finished above Tottenham and Arsenal this season, does it surprise you what you have achieved this season?
I think probably, maybe it has not sunk in yet. I have just been in the mode of keep going and having to be ready for every game and try to keep going. It has been a really tough year in football and football management, overall it has been a good year for us. I did not see it as finishing above Tottenham or Arsenal as my challenge. The challenge was could I make European football, I wanted to see if we could get close to the record of the best points total West Ham had had and we have done both of them so I see it as being an achievement for West Ham. I really wasn’t that interested in where the other teams finished as long as we got the goals of trying to get to where we got to.
Lingard and Rice celebrated together, are you hopeful that Jesse Lingard will be back here next season?
I did not see the celebration. Was it a good one? I hope Jesse is here, we would like to keep him but there is no guarantee, he is not our player. He has done an exceptional job for us on loan and we will see where we go from there. I hope Jesse will also appreciate that West Ham has been good for Jesse. I think he was in a place where maybe there are not many other clubs where what he has done here would have happened for him. We have given him an opportunity and a platform. [We had] a group of players that were in good form going into January, Jesse helped us but he joined a group of players with momentum and a club that was doing well and on the up. So, yes. I would like to keep Jesse.
A word on Fornals who scored twice today.
I actually think if you look at the Brighton game he should have scored three that game, he had three big chances. Then we went to West Brom and he had another two or three big chances and I said to him a week ago after he missed the chances at Brighton that ‘you will get a couple of goals one game’. I said that to build his confidence but he went and got two today and I am really pleased for him because he is a really good boy, he is a brilliant worker and does several different jobs for the team. He is a big unsung, unseen sort of player for us at times and he runs a million miles which we all appreciate.
