Is it go time for your players against Gent tomorrow night?
Yeah, it is. It’s great that we are here and we’re still in the competition. I don’t know how many British clubs are left in European competitions at this time of the season but for us to be one of them is a big achievement. Long may it continue. We want to try and keep it going but every game and every round you play is very tough.
How happy are the memories from the latter stages of Europe last season?
I’d love to giveth supporters another couple of nights like we did and I’d truly like to go further if we can. I’ve got big respect for Gent but I would do for all the teams we play. We’ve got no divine right to be getting through, we’re going to have to work very hard for it, we’re going to have to play well. We’ve got a two-legged game to get through so we have to do a really good job and see if we’re good enough to get to a semi-final.
Do you think this will be your toughest test in Europe so far this season?
I think every game [is tougher]. I think when it gets to the knockout games like this it becomes really tough. Gent themselves have had some really big wins, they had an incredible win away in Istanbul. We know it’s going to be a tough game, they’re on a good run at the moment as well. We have to take that into consideration.
Are you going to name a strong team for the game?
I’m not going to give too much away but we’ve obviously got a lot of important games. I’m sure Gent have a lot of important games as well, it’s not just us. We’ve got a situation in the Premier League where we have to keep trying to win our games. But the chance to get through to a semi-final, we have to try and take every opportunity we can and I wouldn’t want to give that up easily.
Are your son and dad coming along to the game?
Yeah, and my daughter. My dad’s getting older. I think when we all get older we hope our sons will take us to football matches. My brother’s bringing my dad out and I hope when I’m out my son’s taking me to football matches and watching games.
How big is this game, not just for yourself but for the players as well?
Any manager getting to a European final would be huge. I felt last year when we got to the quarter finals, I thought, ‘This is great, we’re up against really big teams, Seville, Lyon.’ We had a run of difficult games and you could easily have gone out because they were much more European versed than we were. It makes us feel we’re more experienced, been there, done it, got a feel for it, we’re beginning to get a feel for it. We’ve got this game but we’ve also got the game at the London Stadium, and we’ll have 62,500 there, it’ll be sold out, I have no doubt. Everybody knows how important it is. We had some brilliant games last year. As a manager you want to be involved in the big games and hopefully we have a few more to come.
Is this the most difficult balancing act you’ve had as a manager, battling Europe and trying to fight off relegation?
It’s really difficult. If you look at all the teams who play on a Thursday, it’s very hard to get a result on the Sunday. It’s been a difficult balancing act but I hope we’re in this position for another few games. What do you do? You take the next game, focus on it completely, do everything you can to win it, and then go to the next one.
How much are you hoping to continue this run in Europe, with your 60th birthday around the corner?
To be in a semi-final last year was great – I wish it had been the final. My next objective, can I get to another semi-final? We’ll do everything we can. To be at this stage, this far in Europe, with the record we’ve had, it’s still a big achievement for West Ham. I can think of other teams who got knocked out and didn’t get this far. We’ve been able to do that. You mustn’t underestimate the value of sitting here in a quarter-final. It’s a big thing. That means two European competition quarter-finals, two years in a row, for West Ham United football club. When you look back, we’ll say, ‘Boy oh boy, that was quite big.’ Not only that, one was a semi-final. And we don’t know the outcome of this yet.
After beating Fulham, can you go strong in this game?
It would be much nicer if we had another seven or eight points. We don’t. I’ve a quarter-final of a European competition which I’m thinking to myself wow, can we go further? We had great nights in Europe last year and I’m hoping to give the supporters a couple more. So we have to try to get the balance right. It’s not easy. Thursday, Sunday is not an easy thing and other teams next year will have to deal with it.
Does your experience of winning a European quarter-final last season help going into this game?
I hope the experience of it, we lost an early goal, we had a sending off, I got sent off. We got caught up in it, we didn’t give ourselves a chance in lots of things we needed to do. We need to do things better on the pitch, maybe the moments in the game was something we would think about. They’re the things we’d hopefully learn from. But I see somebody like Pep (Guardiola), who’s won Champions League but still looking for better ways and learning to try to get his team to win finals. The good thing with West Ham is we’re in this position, which is really good, and we have to try and take the chance if we can.
Have you learned to control your emotions better?
Emotions are something you never know what’s going to happen, looking back I can understand it, we were right up against it on occasions, but we’ve got to make sure we are better disciplined. Calmer. But we still want the players to be emotional, we want them to understand what it means, we want them to be motivated and eager to impress. We don’t want vanilla players who are going to go around and not tackle, challenge, run hard, be competitive. You need players who are going to do all those things. We have to learn where we can draw the line and sometimes your judgement of officials has got to be taken as you see the game going on.
Are your team aware of Gift Orban, who scored a hat-trick for Gent in the last round?
We are aware of the team. We have been to Belgium a couple of times recently, this season and the season before. We don’t know everything but we have done as much homework as we possibly can. We know as much as we can do about him [Orban]. The big thing is for us to perform and continue to reach the standards we have done over these season, ten unbeaten in Europe. It is a really good record. We want to try and add to that if we can.
Do you think much about the semi-final defeat to Eintracht Frankfurt in Europe last season?
We were close. When I look back I want to learn. I said after that game we need to learn from the mistakes. A couple of us, me included, made mistakes, and got caught up and we were probably a goal down in the first leg before the game had even started. There are things like that we have to learn, to be adaptable whoever the referees are and quickly find the tolerance levels. Things like that can play a big part in Europe. We have to keep adapting. We keep reminding the players, we keep remembering things which happened. What did we do well, what did we not do so well in the hope we get most of them right.
What would it mean to you to reach a final?
For any manager to get to a European final is a huge thrill, but again I don’t want to talk about it because I hope we get to a stage where we are talking about it soon. Right now we are talking about how we can win a quarter final against Gent. How can we get ourselves into a semi-final? That’s the first bit I have to try and do.
Is Lucas Paqueta ready to go after his recent foot injury?
Yeah. He got quite a bad knock against Newcastle and he trained a bit on Friday and we thought he would be okay but his ankle was just too puffy. He has now trained a couple of days and he is back.
He’s not had the full impact he is capable yet, but stressed the legacy he could have by winning a trophy?
I think the legacy for any player, never mind Lucas Paqueta, to do that would be an incredible achievement for the individual and the club. We are telling the players that we need to keep pushing for it and trying to make sure we are doing everything we can to get to the final and we will try and do that. It is a chance but we know we have to try and overcome two more games.
