David Moyes
Any fitness concerns for this week?
At the moment most of us are okay, we have a few knocks but overall we are fine. We are still waiting on Arthur Masuaku to come back but he has a better chance after the international break.
It has been such an exciting start to your season, four goals, twice, you have shown such attacking prowess, what have you made of it?
I’ve been really pleased with the results [and] the performances have been good. A lot of good things in both games we have played, at Newcastle, we did a lot of good things and I thought we played well against Leicester who are an excellent team and proved that last season. So, I think, overall I’m really pleased and I’m pleased that we scored the goals. I want us to win the game so if we can do with that style that will be great.
There’s one moment that overshadowed the performance that you had most recently, and that’s Michail Antonio, of course. We know that he’s a character in his own have you spoken to him about his goal celebration because I just need to know where it came from
I certainly didn’t know where that came from until I get told it was from one of the movies, Dirty Dancing or something. He’s been a cardboard cutout for a few years so it was good that he was able to pick one up! It’s a great achievement to break the goalscoring record and as I said the other day I am hoping he is going to go on to beat the record by 30-40 goals.
You have been really purposeful within this [transfer] window. Speaking of huge intention of wanting to still add towards the squad. We know Kurt Zouma was having his medical yesterday. How do you see Kurt in terms of fitting in with your team?
We lost Fabian Balbuena this year, we had four center halves last year but this year we only have three which I think is not enough to get through the season We have had an offer accepted by Chelsea for Kurt [Zouma] but he is still completing his medical at the moment, so I could not tell you if that is complete yet or not as I have just come in from training. I am hoping that goes through and we can get in a fourth centre-half because I think we are short of one this moment in time.
West Ham are in European competition this year which will put a smile smiles on Hammers fans I’ve just had a look in terms of the draw, just your reaction in terms of the group stage and how you feel that that’s going to fare for you?
We are really excited. We watched the draw this morning and watched the pots coming out. The biggest thrill was to see West Ham in one of the pots back in Europe. Get the supporters back in the games hopefully as well. Hopefully, we can get them into the [away] games but we can at least get them back to London Stadium for the games. For us this is a great opportunity, but I have to say the players earned it with their performances last year, they played so well in some of the games and some of the performances last season rightly merited a place in European competition.
Can we expect any more additions other than Kurt Zouma?
We are looking to try to add to the squad with players who can make a difference. I believe we will but ultimately I cannot promise it because sometimes these things just do not happen, it is not all that easy getting the players over the line and in this window that is what I have found. Let’s hope we can, if we can’t and the team keeps playing the way it is I will be happy because the team is doing excellent. But if we can give the team a little more competition then I think that will help.
Your attack is obviously getting a lot of praise and rightly so, but is it right to touch on how definitively solid your team has been as well?
Yeah, I think we’ve done a lot of good things but I wasn’t happy that we have conceded two goals at Newcastle because I don’t want to have to concede two goals and score four every game. But I think that there are signs we are getting better defensively as well. I think we were a wee bit slow at the start, Angelo missed a few games with injury but is now back with us. I am pleased but hope we can have a good defensive structure, because I think to win you have to have a strong defence, the best teams all have a good defence and we’re trying to get that in place
Is consistency, would you say, the most important thing for your team now you know a lot of people talking about you being top of the league and keeping that up and you’ve got a nice run of fixtures so if you are consistent you could stay there.
Well that is the plan, the plan is to try and keep winning and keep a level of consistency. I think last year we showed probably the best level of consistency we’ve had for a long time at the club. We became really strong just after January and February, we had a real consistent run which I think is shown by a league table of Premier League clubs in 2021, I think we’re up there with Man City and other teams which shows you how well we have done. We have started this season well and I think the challenge is to keep that going as long as we can.
You haven’t beaten Crystal Palace at home for a couple of seasons now, is this the perfect time to play them when confidence is at an all-time high?
It is a game which we treat the same as all the others, Patrick Vieira has been an unbelievable player and he has a really good managerial background and he’s learned from, from different situations as part of the Man City group and then went and managed in France and is now back in the Premier League. He is learning his trade in the Premier League as a manager, he certainly knows his way around as a footballer and knows how good teams look so we’re expecting a really tough game.
Obviously, it’s tough to judge as he [Vieira] has only been in charge for two Premier League games but have you watched those games back and what sort of challenge do you face?
I have watched them back and looked at Crystal Palace and the first game was a really tough game against Chelsea and then they drew with Brentford who in their own right are a good team and will be a hard team to play against. I think Crystal Palace are finding their feet and the manager is getting to know the players they have brought in after quite a few changes which can take time to settle in. I hope it is a good time to play Crystal Palace but you never know.
I speculated with you before the Leicester match that maybe having the fans back would impact the players in a negative way. It was quite a privilege to be there on Monday night. I just wonder how you felt, as a team, and how you feel that maybe the fans are warming to London Stadium as well after special nights like that?
The support was magnificent, I thought we gave them something to shout about. It was a terrific team performance which helped as well. But the crowd didn’t half get behind us, the way the goals were celebrated. There have been a couple of changes at the stadium, they brought the ends in behind the goals as well which I think helped with the immediate supporters closer to the pitch in some areas and I think that made a big difference as well. But I hope that the way that team is playing is giving the supporters something to enjoy, to look forward to coming to the stadium and hope we can keep it up.
You say you want to bring more players to improve your side but if you keep playing like that, how easy is it for you to persuade the club that you need to add to your team?
We have no problem with the persuasion to the club because they knew exactly that we would like to add to the squad. This time last year we had Fabian Balbuena and Jesse Lingard here [from January] so at the moment we are two players down from the squad we finished with last season with so we have to add to that and the club certainly [know] that too. But try to find the right ones and trying to add to the level of players we have at the club, we only want players who are going to be competitive with the ones we have got so if we lose a player through injury or suspension they can come in at a similar level, which has not been easy to get. I hope we can, there are a few days to go [in the transfer window], but I don’t want to just bring in people for the sake of it because that is something I think is not right.
Ronaldo might be available, David!
If he fancies a year or so in London he can give me a ring and we can see what we can do. It would be nice to have him and he would be yet another great addition to the Premier League. The Premier League have brought in some really good players this year and a lot of the biggish clubs are signing really well so it looks like an exciting season, very competitive and I am glad to say at the moment we are the ones they are having to chase.
