Is Declan Rice’s goal an iconic goal that will be played time and time again? The greatest ever goal in this stadium?
It was a fabulous sort of individual goal, a ‘Roy of the Rovers’ type goal, you dribble and you beat someone and you do it again, you run and you score. He is some player, great ability. That goal just summed him up tonight.
How great of an achievement is it to reach back to back European semi-finals with West Ham?
I am smiling saying that. I am a huge football man, I watch football, always have done all my life. I don’t know when I can think back to when West Ham maybe had back to back European semi-finals. Maybe they have, maybe someone can correct me and tell there was those times. I’m saying to myself, there’s two-semi-finals of a European competition. Great credit to the players. They have done a brilliant job. Not only that, we won the group last year, we won the group this year. When we went threw in the quarters against big teams. Tonight, I’ve got to say, Gent made it really difficult for us over the two games. In the end, we won quite comfortably, but it didn’t feel that comfortable, I’ve got to say. They made it hard for us.
Is that a goal a sign of what more there is to come from Declan Rice and that he can do that?
If anybody didn’t think he could do that, they are completely naïve and you don’t watch us close enough if that’s the case. He is some player. That is why we value him so highly.
How much better can Declan Rice get?
He is still young, he will learn a lot of things. He will play differently at times in his career. At the moment, he has got so many parts to his games and he doesn’t always show them, partly because he has got a good personality but he could show it even more, and if he does that you will see so many more aspects to his game. A lot of people probably think it isn’t there but let me tell you, it is there.
How much does he learn when he goes away with England, especially in the last two tournaments?
Huge, I can see him when he comes back, he has grown quicker, bigger. But also, getting a chance to work alongside the quality of players which they have got and a great coaching staff at England will do Declan the world of good. I hope and I think West Ham have benefitted over the last few years with Dec’s experience with England. He goes into all of the games believing that we will win, believing that we will play well and he will play well. There are a lot of things about him which are really good.
How much can you take from tonight for the rest of the season?
I think if you look at that, what’s probably pulled this club together more than anything is when we qualified for Europe in the first place a couple of years ago. Finishing sixth, then we went on the journey and we were enjoying that journey together, which was brilliant, to the semi-final against Frankfurt last year. I think it’s the same. I think this year, this competition has kept us keep our positivity and kept everyone going when we are obviously in the middle of a difficult season for us. I have to say, when we have needed to, we have pulled out results. We pulled out one tonight.
What do you think of facing AZ Alkmaar in the semi-finals of the Europa Conference League and can you see the path to the final opening up, especially as favourites?
We are, we were, I’d never be that presumptuous. Anybody who knows much about it, the last I looked they were third in the Dutch league and just behind Ajax and I think PSV. They are a team full of young players. Their model is very much developing young players and they have some really, really top talent and good players in their ranks, and odd experienced player here or there as well. I think when you have got momentum when you are third in the division, that’s where I would saw they have shown consistently good form for most of the year.
What did you say to your players at half-time?
I wasn’t that happy because I thought we had played well, I thought we were still the better time, but I was disappointed we had given the goal away. We hadn’t really made enough chances. The second half and I was even more annoyed at the end of the game, we missed two in the first couple of minutes. We get a penalty kick and actually later on, I thought we abused more opportunities to score later on. I’ve not seen Jarrod’s (Bowen) goal back, which was chalked off. I think somebody felt the feeling was it should have been a goal, but I’ve not had chance to see it yet.
Is it nice to be able to see your team score four in a game and not have to worry?
The bit we are annoyed about is that we didn’t score the other ones we missed. Tomas (Soucek) had a chance, Mick (Antonio) just before we got the penalty. Then it took the wonder goal from Declan to make it 3-1 and actually after that, when we went 4-1, we had two or three big chances and I thought we abused the opportunity to finish it off or get a good enough finish away. If we are going to score four goals every game, we’ve not done it very often this season, so I am thrilled at the win, but as a manager, you are always looking for more. You always want to see people take their opportunities to score.
Who was meant to take the penalty? Said Benrahma or Lucas Paqueta?
It probably would have been Said, they must have had a good discussion because he scored.
Is Michail Antonio okay after limping down the tunnel?
I’ve not really had a chance to see because I’ve been doing most of the media stuff. He looked as if he took a couple of knocks from the back in the first half, but it didn’t stop him from scoring a really good second goal. Hopefully, that will give him a lot of confidence as well.
Do you feel he was rewarded tonight for his recent improved form?
I thought he played really well against Arsenal and I thought tonight, if most of the players could continue the levels they were at against Arsenal, it would give us a great chance of winning. The people who have watched us a lot, we’ve tended to maybe change more players in the games in Europe. I just felt that the momentum was building from the game and I wanted to try and keep it going. Obviously, I’ve only got a couple of hours before I see yous again and much longer before my next game and get ready to go again?
What were you thinking when Lucas Paqueta picked up the ball for the penalty?
I thought he was walking away because there is a trend at the moment for the person who is not taking is walking away with the ball, so I had no panic on, I had no worry on. I have got to say, I have seen Lucas taking penalties in training and he has a style which is interesting. Nerve-racking as well if you are a manager, that is for sure. Obviously, because we missed a couple of what I thought were really big opportunities before, it became vital that we scored that penalty.
Do you think the hurt of last season against Eintracht Frankfurt will make you better prepared for this semi-final?
I hope we will be able to deal with it slightly better. Let’s be fair, when you look back, we played a really good Eintracht Frankfurt team, who have since then, been Champions League etc. We shouldn’t underestimate the quality of team we played, but I think there were things in the game. We talk to the players quite regularly about the emotions, how we handle it. We’re not quite sure of what the refereeing levels will be at in different games. I actually though tonight, the refereeing levels were very good. Higher than maybe say the one we had in Gent, for example. You’re never sure what refereeing levels you are going to have. It’s the sort of things we need to find a way of understanding. That’s the biggest thing we took from it, but also, we’ve got to remember from the first game here, I think we were goal down after a minute here against Eintracht Frankfurt and we were nearly chasing the game from minute one. Hopefully, it can help us as an experience from it. The first we’ve got to do is try and win the games.
Have you got to reiterate to the players that the job is not done yet in the Premier League, they can’t celebrate for too long?
No, but if you don’t mind, we might enjoy this one, even if it is for an hour before we start thinking about it again. But obviously, we know and we’ve always said that the most important thing is the Premier League.
