What did you take out of the win over Viborg?
Took out of it three pretty good goals and Micky [Antonio] getting back into the goals, into his goalscoring form and obviously Gianluca [Scamacca] and Jarrod [Bowen] getting back in the goals as well. These games could be easy. They are easy on paper and much harder to play on paper. You can slip up quite easily because I’ve seen it happen before. It was a tough game but we got there in the end.
What kind of impact do you think Gianluca Scamacca will have on the Premier League after his first goal?
I think in time, he will. I think if we are going to judge him very quickly then I don’t think that’s fair. I think if we’re trying to bring him into the Premier League, we would do gradually and we will look to do that as well gradually. We will look to do that gradually as we go along. He’ll get to know us better, we’ll get to know him but we’ve seen enough from him already to suggest that he’s got a lot going for him and hopefully, that will help us.
What is the latest team news? Are there any fresh concerns from the win over Viborg?
I don’t think we’ve had much from last night. We’d hope to getting many people back with a few people injured at the moment. So we hope to get them back and be as strong as we possibly can against Brighton.
How far away is Craig Dawson?
Not too far away, not too far away.
West Ham have played Brighton 10 times in the Premier League and never won, including painful memories last season. How much did that hurt and are Brighton a bogey team?
I’ve got loads of teams like that in my history like that, loads of teams that I’ve found very hard to beat so it’s not just Brighton, there are lots of other teams as well.
What would you say about the challenge of facing Brighton?
The challenge is good. From their point of view, they’ve got a good team, they’ve got a manager who is doing very well, they’ve got a structure they play to, so they’ve got a lot of good things going for them, Brighton. We finished above them last season in the league, so we have to go and try and show that we are good and we aim to try and do that again. We’ve had tough games against them, so I have not doubt that this will be another tough game.
What is the latest on the club’s interest in Emerson?
You know what you’re going to get, I wouldn’t talk about players at other clubs until they become my player. We’d like somebody in that left-back area to help Cressy (Aaron Cresswell) and give us some more cover there, we’ve not had it, but I wouldn’t talk about any individual players from any other clubs.
How much more work do you think needs to be done over the next two weeks of the transfer window?
We’ve signed a few players but we are still looking, we are still trying to add to it. We’ve done a lot of bidding for players, quite often, we’ve not always got them, but we’ve been quite active, that is for sure.
How important is it to get your first points and first Premier League goals on the board?
Really important. We don’t want to get into a position where we are too far behind where we don’t want to challenge. Our aim is to keep going, we want to be challenging the boys at the top and we’ve got to get off the mark and get started. Let’s hope we can do that on Sunday.
How will the result over Viborg help you, especially with Angelo Ogbonna coming back and Gianluca Scamacca scoring?
I think just getting the first game and the first win, some of the players having their first match, was really important. Angelo for example, we probably might not have pushed him so quickly if we had other people available but we give him a chance to get back in and he’s done well so hopefully, he will not be too far away. Getting Gianluca and Maxwel (Cornet) minutes was good as well last night, so pleased as well.
Do you think your new additions can help West Ham challenge for the top four this season?
I hope so. When you bring in lots of additions, sometimes they fit in very quickly, sometimes it can get results and it shows, other times it doesn’t. There will be some players this happens with. For example, the Czech boys when they came in had a great impact on us very quickly, maybe the opposite was Jarrod Bowen, who was maybe a little slower in his impact but overall he’s come on. It can differ with different players. We hope they are ready and I do think they will make us much better.
How would you rate Brighton’s success, especially after selling Ben White, Yves Bissouma and Marc Cucurella and still succeeding?
I think if you look at their model, I think they are buying a lot of players early and they keep them there and they have them in their system. They buy a lot of good young players and then when they come to the fore, then they become very good and very valuable. You can see their model, their model is one I like. I don’t know if it would work at one of the top clubs but it’s working really well for where they are at the moment and I think they are doing a brilliant job Brighton of producing players and not seeming to let it have much affect on their results. That’s also because of very good recruitment from I’m sure the last five/six years, these people don’t turn up at the door right away. Some of them have been in the system for a while.
