West Ham United manager David Moyes spoke to the media at length following his side's 4-0 win over AEK Larnaca in the second leg of their Europa Conference League round of 16 tie.
Goals from Gianluca Scamacca, Jarrod Bowen (two) and Divin Mubama sealed a 6-0 aggregate victory over their Cypriot opponents, who played over half of the game with ten men after Gus Ledes' red card in the first half.
Here is every word Moyes said on the win, Scamacca, Mubama, a senior debut for Levi Laing and more.
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What did you make of the performance this evening?
We did a really professional job. It was always a risky game, if they got a goal back it would’ve made us all a bit anxious. We started the game really well and really, we should’ve scored before we did do. When we did get the goal, it was good and it probably saw the game off. Obviously, the sending off changed the game as well.
How pleasing is it to reach another European quarter-final?
Really pleasing. I don’t think that’s something which happens all the time. We’ve now had two quarter-finals in the last two years in Europe, we’ve had some great trips with the supporters, we’ve played in some brilliant stadiums and it’s been great for the club, it really has been. I’ve got to say, it’s been great for my staff and the players, we’ve really enjoyed it.
What did you make of Gianluca Scamacca on his first start since January 4?
He did okay, was a wee bit fortunate with the goal but strikers need their goals to gain confidence. I’m pleased for him, he’s a really good lad and has done a lot of good things tonight so hopefully, it will help bring him on.
How pleased were you to see Jarrod Bowen score twice early in the second half?
Really important, because Jarrod is a huge player for us. We need him for creating chances, making goals and scoring goals. Tonight, he certainly got a couple of goals for me. I actually thought his first one was a great finish from a tight angle and the second one was a really deft header. Really good for Jarrod, I thought he played well on Sunday and to back that up today with two goals was good for him.
Was it a really nice moment to share with Divin Mubama after bringing him on and his goal?
Yes. I talked about it a wee bit earlier, I said there’s nothing more that gives you pleasure than getting young players an opportunity. It’s really difficult to become a professional footballer, especially in the Premier League. A lot of these players are starting off at eight, nine, 10 years old trying to get through. To be able to give them a chance and tonight, allowed us that opportunity as the game went on. Every time Divin has come on, I tell you what he does, he runs and he does the work and he doesn’t think about twice his effort or anything he does. Because of that, we’re growing to him all of the time. He’s done really well and I’m pleased. Young Levi (Laing) has been doing pretty well in the under-21s and (Freddie) Pottsy’s been in it a while and they both got a run out tonight, so that was good.
Does Divin Mubama train regularly with the first team?
He’s not done it so much because at the moment, centre forwards, we are pretty full in that area but a period back, he was. We will bring him up when we think he is ready and he is, he does train with us quite a lot but not all the time.
Are you able to allow yourself some downtime in your 17-day break until your next match?
Yes, maybe. I’ve got a few teams to watch I think between now and then and get ourselves ready for what we all know is going to be a colossal couple of months coming up. We’ve got a huge amount of games coming up and also, the real level of importance in them. The Premier League games are going to be so important and this competition now, we’re giving ourselves a real chance. We will all be excited by the draw tomorrow and it’s great to be in another quarter-final, it really is. It’s something which is very hard to do. To be in it two years in a row is very good.
What do you make of being the bookies’ favourites to win the competition?
I think with the way some of the results are going, you can never just tell with football and I would never, ever be presumptuous to think that’s the case because I think we need to improve. I need to get us back closer to our levels. There’s bits of tonight, maybe little bits of it, but there’s other bits of it where we weren’t quite at the rhythm, maybe to finish off the good play that we had to lead up to being in the box and around the box.
Were you tempted to play Gianluca Scamacca for longer than you did?
I was going to play him for 60 minutes, I told him I was going to play him for 60 minutes. The only reason I did it sooner was because we were going to make the substitutions and get rid of Jarrod (Bowen) and Lucas (Paqueta). We thought in case we needed more room, in case we needed positions to do it, we thought we were just going to do it in one instead of five minutes time or ten minutes time. He got 55 minutes or so, so a good start for him.
How pleasing is it to score nine goals in your last three home games and to see Lucas Paqueta and Gianluca Scamacca linking up again?
Yes. We want them to all to get to a level of performance where we can score some goals and we did tonight, a couple of good goals. Overall, I’m really pleased that we’re beginning to find a little bit of goals beginning to come our way, we’re beginning to see a few more goals coming in. Actually, I thought that the opening part of the game, we had some really good opportunities to do it and we didn’t get it then. Pleased with the goals we did get.
Was tonight’s outcome in terms of getting players minutes and the result the perfect outcome for you?
Yes, probably. I think the 2-0 victory in Cyprus meant that we weren’t home and dry, but we thought we got a really good result. Maybe if we had scored a couple more away, we might have been able to change and put some younger players in from the start, but we couldn’t and we treated the cup competition like every cup competition we are in, we all try to treat it the best we can. It was good. I thought Pablo Fornals did well tonight, I thought Lanzini, a lot of the players who have been dipping in and out a bit, they got good solid time tonight.
How do you see this competition with Lazio and Villarreal dropping out?
I can’t take anything for granted but I’ve got to say, we hope that we get a good draw as we always do and we make it 12 [Europa Conference League wins] and then win the next two games and get to the semi-finals. You just never know. We’ve had some incredible nights, this time last year was Seville and then we went on to Lyon in the quarters before we had Eintracht Frankfurt. I hope we can keep the journey going and I hope that we can go a step or two further.
What do you make of Levi Laing after giving him a senior debut?
He’s done quite well. He’s a really good 1v1 defender. We like him, he’s quick, doesn’t get beaten easily. To get young centre halves a game is very difficult in the Premier League. Very few, but I can think of some. He’s making his way through the 21s and I’ve been trying to get an opportunity to play him and tonight, he got his chance.
Any thoughts on the draw?
No, I didn’t see all of the results. I saw Gent beat one of the Istanbul clubs. Tonight Alkmaar beat Lazio and another one was Basel beating Slovan Bratislava. Maybe with a bit of luck, the travel is not so far, because obviously we played in Cyprus last week and coming back and playing Thursday and Sunday is really, really difficult, never mind having the best part of five hours flying time. With a bit of luck, we can get somewhere a bit closer.
What have you made of AEK Larnaca over these two legs?
I think over the two games, they’ve played well. Probably our strength, our finishing, was the difference. They caused us a lot of problems with set-pieces from the first game, we had to defend well not to concede from the first game. We didn’t play so well but maybe, just the quality of some of the players in the Premier League can be that difference. We were able to change our team tonight, most of the players who played in Cyprus last week didn’t play tonight. We changed another group tonight. We’re fortunate to have the ability to change and maybe, there’s not so much difference with all of the changes.
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