West Ham United manager David Moyes spoke to the media at length on Friday afternoon ahead of Boxing Day's clash with Arsenal.
Moyes and his Hammers side will be making their first competitive appearance in 38 days against league leaders Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium, looking for a return to winning ways in the league.
Here is every word Moyes said on the game, team news, his future, Jarrod Bowen, transfers, Declan Rice and more.
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What is the latest team news? How are Michail Antonio and Gianluca Scamacca?
I'm not sure if they're going to be available yet,. Gianluca's got an ankle injury, Micks has got a bit of a calf strain, so we're hoping that they've both got a chance. I think they're both doubtful. I think all of the clubs in the Premier League, you will never know who is fit and available from who has returned yet from the World Cup.
Do you have cover in Jarrod Bowen to cover?
Yeah I do, I think Jarrod's more than capable if we need to do so. Over the last few years we've changed Marko Arnoutovic from a wide player into a centre forward, we've done a little bit the same with Micky Antonio so who's to say it won't be Jarrod who is next.
How is Nayef Aguerd after his injury at the World Cup?
He had a virus and he had an injury as well, so that didn't help. Obviously they were also part of his reasons for not playing in the game that he didn't start. He's not back in yet, but we're hoping he will be back in tomorrow and we will have a look to see how he is.
What did you make of his performances for Morocco?
I've said for a a while, we signed him [in the summer] we wanted the year before and couldn't get him and we've waited a long time. I thought he played well, the game's he's played. He's a really good footballer so hopefully, he will add to us and improve us in the second half of the season."
How have you analysed the first half of the season?
There's a lot of things we did. We've looked to see where we can improve, what we should be doing better. And obviously there's lots of room for improvement so we've tried to work towards it. I've got to say the players have shown a brilliant attitude since coming back. They recognise that we have to, I wouldn't say that it's always been play better exactly but I think we've got to try and be a little more clinical, certainly when we're trying to score, and obviously be that little bit more ruthless defensively when we need to be as well.
How do you assess the mindset of Decan Rice and Lucas Paqueta after the World Cup?
Well they've been back a few days training so I'm hoping that they'll be fine. Obviously they've had no, if you want to call it, friendlies but they didn't need it because they just two weeks ago finished playing games for their country so I think both of them played really well for their country. I think that they probably are both disappointed that they didn't go further. But what the focus now is on West Ham, getting them back in good condition and playing at their best levels.
Why are you so confident you will be in a battle for European football and not relegation?
I think we've got a really good team. I don't think we've shown it as well as we should do at the moment. I think we have to play better but there's obviously lots of clear signs we have to score more goals and we probably have to create more as well. So the other things that are standing out for us so hopefully we can do that. I've got a lot of belief in the boys we've brought in, I think we've got a strong squad. We've got a European competition to come in March which we sort of have in our head as well, we're getting towards and preparing but really the big thing at the moment is to get a good run in the Premier League and hopefully another good run in the FA Cup if we can.
Can you talk us through what you did during the World Cup break and was it beneficial in the end?
Well I do think when I look back I think it was beneficial. I think we needed a break. I think all the players needed a break. We did. We played so many games quickly as well. So I think we gave the players time off. We didn't go away, we've been here at Rush Green through the snow and all other parts in recent weeks like everybody else. But we've also had a couple of closed door games and friendlies and they've all gone quite well for us. So the biggest thing for us is to try and find that little bit of momentum which we had plenty of in the last couple of seasons and get back to the levels where we were at before.
Is the festive period exciting for you?
Well it's an exciting period for any football supporter. And if you're brought up a football supporter and you're from the UK it's very exciting. I think if you come from the other countries or you look at it where maybe they don't play over Christmas and Boxing Day, I think quite often people will say how stupid is that and why are you playing so many games over Christmas or New Year. And I think we all probably think that but it's very much part of our culture and certainly if I wasn't a manager or hadn't been a player I would have been out watching it, watching other teams play over the Christmas and New Year.
Do you think it's the best time to play Arsenal?
I think the best time to play Arsenal was about three years ago. I think that's when they were, I think probably since Mikel has come and he's done a brilliant job. Got them going, won a couple of trophies. They've sort of gone against the grain a wee bit where people thought it wouldn't happen and they've produced a very good team. So yeah, three years ago I think would have been a good time probably.
Is it exciting to face Mikel Arteta as a manager?
As a manager to get players who go into management and do well and see them doing well, it's a great thrill, really is. And not always just do well because it's hard to do well. But I think that Mikel was always someone who had his own mind. He's had a really good career and you know, he's worked under Arsene Wenger as well who would have given him a great idea on how things should be done at Arsenal Football Club. He's worked under Pep [Guardiola] who arguably could be the best manager, certainly in this period. So he would have picked up a lot of good advice from those managers. But he was always a clever boy as well and like everybody else, maybe when things were a little bit difficult and a lot of people were on his back, he stuck at it and kept going and ended up coming through which quite often managers need. They need that little bit of time to get through a difficult period and credit to Arsenal board for not buckling at the time and doing anything stupid.
What did you like about Arteta as a player?
It's a difficult thing to say. Sometimes when you're signing players you're never quite sure. Mikel had gone up to Glasgow Rangers and I'd watch him play for Rangers and he had just done okay. But we had been watching him and my staff were saying 'no, we should take him' so my staff were very good around it so we brought him in on loan and actually at the start he was a bit slow in starting but once he got going he became a super player for us. And actually, sometimes there's things in your journey at a football club that change you. Players change it. The players change the culture a little bit as well and our culture started to change. We had brought in Mikel Arteta, Steven Pienaar and suddenly their footballing ability and the different types of players are there, Leon Osman was emerging as a really talented player. So we had started to change the culture, Mikel was a huge part of that at the time as well. So it was a strange but we went on and signed him permanently, I think it might have been £3million maybe at the time from Real Sociedad who he had gone back to. But really he had been in the UK before with Glasgow Rangers and it hadn't quite worked. So I wouldn't say it was a gamble, it was one of the ones we took and given him time he was a really good player.
Is this the toughest Arsenal team to face in the past three years?
Of course and I think Arsenal have had great teams so you can't compare any team just now to any great Arsenal teams in the past and that will be wrong to do so. But I think if you're just talking about in recent times, they were getting criticised so much Arsenal and I find that hard to believe when I was looking and saying I think they're building a good team. I could see [Emile] Smith Rowe, I could see [Bukayo] Saka. They had [Gabriel] Martinelli in the youth team at the time. I'm starting to think to myself my goodness, people are not seeing this right here. And a lot of journalists who were thinking that way at the time and maybe quite a few would say it. I don't know if they come out and say that that's the way they thought at that time but I've got to say I thought they were a really good team in the making at Arsenal and I think they are now.
Do you feel you are under pressure here?
No. I've had great conversations with David Sullivan and actually as you get older you don't feel the pressure as much, it's not quite the same as different times and what you have to understand is as you get older, you go through difficult times as well as good times and we've had two-and-a-half/three years of great times here. And sometimes there's tips in there and that's when you need strong board members and supporters to get behind the team and everybody to pull together.
Why won't you be busy in the January transfer window?
Because mainly we spent more money, the board gave us the money to spend in the summer and we spent most of our money in the summer so I would only think we would get busy if something really come up and maybe there was a necessity because of an injury or something like that. That would probably be the only reason we do it.
Your reaction to the sad news about George Cohen today?
Yeah of course it's really sad news. I didn't know George myself. You always remember the great players and you always remember the players who were influential in different things and it's really sad to hear and my thoughts go to his family.
How do you feel about the Premier League admitting disallowed goal against Chelsea was a mistake?
I admire them more for coming out and saying that they got it wrong because we move on, we can't do anything about it, we can't change it. Sometimes you need small things to for you in games. Recently there's been a lot of small margins whether it'd been in the World Cup or whether it be in the Premier League, small things matter a lot and on the day that was important to us but overall it's gone, we've moved on from it.
Thoughts on Howard Webb returning to English football?
I hope it works. They've had over the years good people in the role so hopefully Howard can come in and do that.
Are you going to have a restart attitude towards football returning?
Definitely. But this season we know if you put these 15 games or so in perspective, if you look at the last 60 we've played the last year and probably 55 or something the year before, you'd have to say you put them in perspective you say we've been doing really well. So we've got to try and get it in the right place and that's what we're doing. But yeah, we're going to have to be positive and we're gonna have to try and play well, score more goals than we've done in the first half of the season and cause teams more problems then we've done.
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