#PLStories- David Moyes on West Ham’s trip to Man City, Michail Antonio and Lionel Messi #WHUFC
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David Moyes
Is everyone back okay from Vienna, any fresh injury worries?
We are okay but we will assess things today and see how the players come through, but they all seem okay.
Another spectacular night in Europe and what does that win in Vienna do for morale going into City after you were able to rest a number of players?
Well, I hope it helps we always wanted to use a whole squad we have done throughout the tournament so far. It’s worked really well those who have played have done a great job, results have been good, and performances excellent. So it gives us an opportunity to leave one or two behind but because we got away with it at the start we sort of kept doing it and last night was a professional performance.
City v PSG was an awesome match, did you see it?
It was an incredible game of football. Probably one of the best games of football I have seen in a long long time. The standards and levels were up there with anything I have seen.
Pep Guardiola stopped Messi but can he stop Michy for West Ham?
Well Mich [Antonio] will probably cause him different problems to what even Messi would do. But I think Manchester City are showing exactly what they are. Everybody’s trying to aspire to play like Manchester City, to be at the level of Manchester City but that takes time, you cannot do that immediately. I do not think even Manchester City have done it straight away, they took a long period over it. They have a great team and a great manager as well.
How much confidence do you take from beating them in the Carabao Cup?
We did knock them out but we did not beat them. We knocked them out by beating them on penalties but I do think we have shown signs when we went up there last year and gave them a tough game and got closer to them. Even with the players at the level of Paris Saint-Germain it is very difficult to stop Manchester City and it is for all teams and we know how difficult it is going to be.
Ralph Rangnick has taken over at Manchester United as interimboss what are your thoughts on that?
He is a very experienced manager very well thought of throughout the coaching world so that will be interesting for Manchester United. He is someone who is incredibly well thought of throughout Europe and now we have a chance to see him in the Premier League.
It was a huge night for Sonny Perkins, as a manager when you give a young player his debut what is that feeling like?
You know the thrill for the boy, you can see he is nervous but they are really thrilled to get it. The young boys nowadays it means so much to know, but it always has done and I said last night I’ve given quite a few boys, 17-year-olds and 16-year-olds in some cases their debuts and I think possibly had we not conceded the only goal in Genk in the 90th minute where we drew 2-2 I might have started Sonny. He is doing great for the Under-23’s and in general, the U23’s have done very well so if I can I would like to reward some of the young players.
If you had to pick out one thing that’s been the key to your success as a group this season, what would it be? Or is it impossible just to narrow it down to one?
Well it is impossible but what I would say is the spirit and the mentality of the players is huge here and it has changed dramatically. We have a lot of players with a really high level playing for the countries, young players on the up, senior players feeling this is the best moment of their career so there is a whole group of us and myself included who have seen it as a real challenge and something we want to hold on to and we are enjoying it. I have to be honest with you and I wish this was after 35 games, with just one or two games to go as it would mean we were at the top end of the league and qualifying for Europe. But I have to give great credit to the players they have been terrific.
Is that one of the biggest challenges then keeping that balance between the enjoyment and the momentum and using that as a drive, but also reminding yourself and the players that it is so early on and keeping level-headed at the same time?
We try to make sure we do not get ahead of ourselves but on the other side, we are not going to sit around and be miserable. We are doing really well so I am not going to hide it. I think we are playing really well, there has been a huge transformation at West ham, the players are hugely instrumental in that because of how they have performed and I think there is a great feeling around the club. In the club, around the stadium, I think the supporters are seeing a West Ham team which are closer to the way they like it and what they want [to see], and that thrills me as that is the job of the manager. The job now is to keep that going and be consistent and reliable in how we perform and I hope the players will continue that.
What would a result at Manchester City say about West Ham’s potential this season?
I don’t know if we would take it as any more than a one-off result because I think Manchester City with Liverpool and Chelsea who are so consistent. They have so many good players, the level of the players and the football we are seeing at the moment is so so high. But we are challenging them and we got a result against Liverpool the other week and as I said before we want to challenge the top teams and I don’t know if we’re as good or whether we can beat them but I want to see if I can give them a game and try and make it as difficult as I can for them.
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