David Moyes
Good to start with a win after questions over signings?
I think I have got a really good team, they can play well. We did some really good things today, some that weren’t so good but overall it was a terrific game. I thought Newcastle played well but to come up here with 50,000 Geordies and come back from a goal down after five minutes, it shows a different West Ham team at the moment.
What did you say at half time and particularly to Declan because it looked like his role changed?
Declan was excellent. I thought we played very well in the first half, I thought they were more just a couple of defensive blips and we gave Newcastle a leg up with the second goal. We had as many opportunities as they had. The second half was more of the same, we knew we were going to have to play to get back in the game and win the game and we went on and did that.
On Said Benrahma how big will that goal be for his confidence?
That’s him getting started with an assist as well. I think you can see a slight change in his play and his development, it can’t always be the Said Benrahma show it has to be for the team, that is what we’re interested in. At moments we need his individual ability to beat people, score us goals and make assists and he did that today.
Great performance and a lot of fighting spirit in the second half. What pleased you most about the performance.
No, I thought the fighting spirit was there in the first half as well. It had nothing to do with fighting spirit but I thought our football performance was excellent all around. I thought it was a really good game, for a neutral it was a good game of football with plenty of action both ends and I thought we had good control at times, we kept the ball well. At times we had to suffer a little bit when we did not have the ball against a decent team with two good forwards. I thought in the main we deserved to get the victory.
Michail Antonio scored today and is level with Paolo di Canio as West Ham’s top Premier League goal scorer, how proud are you of his performance.
He is not far away now and I have no doubt he will break it and I am hoping he breaks it on Monday night. We all know he is going to break the record and I hope he goes on and scores another 15-20 goals this season because he will make it very difficult for anyone to catch him, certainly in the short term that is for sure.
With Frederick Alves on loan to Sunderland does that mean another defender is arriving soon?
No, when I took Frederick Alves I felt I had to have a look at him for six months to see what he can do and if he was not going to affect the first team then he would go out on loan. I have 17-year-old centre-half Jamal [Baptiste] who I want involved in the first-team training but undoubtedly I am going to try and add to the squad and I will be adding a defender and maybe other players as well but then if I don’t then I will be happy if the players perform as well as they did today.
What did it mean to have the West Ham fans in the stadium?
It was great we could give West Ham supporters something to shout about and hopefully they are beginning to see something different and I have got to say I saw something different from them as well. The support today was terrific I think they realised how well the team was playing and they backed the players all the way and were right behind the team.
After so long in empty stadiums what is it like to stand in front of 3,000 fans after winning such an exciting game?
Well, I think it was more sort of 50,000 Geordies at the start and I was looking and thinking to myself ‘wow, this is real’ and we stood in the dugout and said ‘this is what we have been missing and this is a fantastically supported football club and an incredible fanbase and they did not let their team down today. The Newcastle supporters were terrific.
