West Ham United manager David Moyes spoke to the media at length on Tuesday afternoon ahead of the Premier League meeting with Liverpool on Wednesday night.
The Hammers head into this week’s round of games six points clear of the Premier League’s relegation zone with just seven matches remaining, having beaten Bournemouth 4-0 on Sunday.
Here is every word Moyes said on the game, Jurgen Klopp, Lucas Paqueta, the FA Youth Cup final and more.
READ MORE: What David Moyes told Declan Rice to inspire Bournemouth goal amid pointed transfer message
Happy 60th birthday. Jurgen Klopp has said he was pleased that you were kept at West Ham as you were the oldest manager in the league and he was second. How pleased are you that Roy Hodgson returned?
Thank you. I am thrilled that Roy [Hodgson] is now back for all of those reasons. I remember Jurgen [Klopp] mentioned it to me earlier in the season. It didn’t seem right being the oldest manager in the Premier League, but that’s what longevity does to you and sometimes, if you can stay the course then you do become the oldest one. Roy has shown that hopefully, there’s plenty more years to come as well.
Do you feel now that one or two more wins will be enough to secure safety in the Premier League? Will you have half an eye on Leicester City’s game with Leeds United tonight?
I don’t think it would be fair to say what we think [we need] to stay up, but we do feel that we’ve got to get more points than we’ve got at the moment, that is for sure. We have to get more, then it means the teams below us have to get more as well. I think they are all aware of that. I think other results do matter at this time of the season, it doesn’t matter what anybody says. More importantly, you have to look after your own and if you win your own, you take care of your own business. Yes, we’ll be looking at all the other games like so many other teams will be as well.
It should be a good game between Leicester and Leeds, shouldn’t it?
Yes, I think there are some good games on, whether it be tonight, tomorrow night or Thursday night, we’ve got so many good games at the moment.
You recently drew 2-2 with Arsenal. What have you made of Liverpool of late and do you feel that sort of result will give you more confidence?
We came from 2-0 down which was a great result and it’s given us a lot of confidence and we will go into the next game trying to play as well as we can. We had a very good win at the weekend, but now, we have another incredibly difficult opponent who over many seasons, have been up there with the top teams in the world, never mind the Premier League.
How will you look to tackle their recent goal-scoring?
I don’t think it’s an easy thing to say how you can tackle it with one way, I think you are going to have to do it with a lot of jobs. They’ve got so many good attacking players, they can change their squad around, they have a lot of players and I think their performances recently have shown they are beginning to find their feet again. Let’s be fair, they’ve never been that far away. Let’s be fair, they’ve never been miles away from where they’ve been, maybe by the standards that Liverpool and Jurgen Klopp set, maybe they feel as if they have been. It’s not as if they’ve been away at the bottom end of the league or that, they’ve just been outside of the top boys. They are always going to be a difficult opponent, no matter what time you play them.
What have you made of Lucas Paqueta’s form and Pablo Fornals’ cameo vs Bournemouth?
Pablo [Fornals] has been someone who has done a great job for us over the last few years and I think that he’s just been unfortunate that he’s not been able to find himself in the team more often. Sometimes in football, that is how it goes.
As far as Lucas Paqueta goes, I think that I could look through so many clubs where I could look through players and it’s taken players time to settle. Lucas Paqueta is beginning to settle in, I think he’s getting used to it a bit more, he’s getting used to the Premier League intensity and maybe, just the way the game is played in this league takes a little bit of time.
How great is it that the under-18s are in the FA Youth Cup final against Arsenal tonight?
I’m thrilled for the boys because they also won the league last week and now they’ve got a chance to win the cup as well. It’ll be a tough encounter for them to go to Arsenal’s stadium as well. From an FA Youth Cup team you tend to find two or three coming through into the first-team. That’s the aim. You hope the reason for it is the development of the young players but it also shows that those players have reached a good level, which you can see by them winning the league as well. Them reaching the Youth Cup final shows there’s a promising group of young players there.
Were Pablo Fornals’ tears at Bournemouth the kind of passion you want to see from your players?
I think all players are passionate, some show it in different ways but everyone I know wants to do well, wants to score goals, wants to be involved in successful teams. I’ve never known it any other way. I think Pablo’s situation is he probably just feels he should be getting more goals. He’s thought he’s got an opportunity here, he’s come on and he’s scored a really good goal so we’re pleased for Pablo.
What do you make of Jurgen Klopp as a manager and as a person?
I don’t think there’s much more you can say about Jurgen as a manager because he’s been top of the tree for so long - European finals, Premier League etc. Even at Dortmund and the teams he’s had before. I think everybody’s known about Jurgen Klopp since he started out and was making his way.
He’s done a great job at Liverpool undoubtedly, I don’t think there’d be a Liverpool supporter who’d have any doubt that he’s been a huge success so the praise for Jurgen would only be what most people would say about him. They’ve always been an incredibly difficult opponent because their teams work your hard, press you, close you down, play really good football and they’ve had some top talented players as well in their team.
Do you think set-pieces are an area where you can really attack Liverpool and do you expect it being an open game?
I’d have to say we’ve been really disappointed with our set-pieces all season. We’ve not scored as many, we’ve not been as big a threat. It’s not something we’re jumping about because we think we’ve done a great job on it this year - we’ve not. We’ve certainly missed Craig Dawson as far as attacking set-pieces go. In the main, we’ve been pretty strong defensively. But I disagree a bit with that, to be honest. I think we are a threat but I don’t think we’ve shown it yet this year.
Will it be an open game? I think the stage of the season we’re at, people have different things they’re fighting for and a lot of the games are producing goals. So, I think that might be the way because if you go behind you have to go for it, all the teams. The way the league is, there are very few teams with nothing to play for.
Do you need a plan to stop Trent Alexander-Arnold in his new role?
It’s something we’ve thought about because he’s a really, really talented footballer. His deliveries, his use of the ball, his range of passing, he’s got all those traits of a very good quarterback-type footballer. He’s a good defender as well, he’s been an England international for years. I don’t think anybody should be shocked.
For many years, people have talked about Trent [Alexander-Arnold], does he play in midfield or as a full-back. At the moment, Liverpool have put him in there a bit more often and he’s played very well for them.
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