West Ham United manager David Moyes spoke at length following his side's 1-1 draw with Aston Villa on Sunday.
The Hammers' point saw them escape the bottom three on goal difference as Said Benrahma's penalty cancelled out Ollie Watkins' first-half header.
Here is every word Moyes said on the draw, Gianluca Scamacca, Lucas Paqueta, the fans, pressure and more.
Was that a massive missed opportunity for you today?
It was a missed opportunity, I wouldn't say you could put the word massive, but a missed opportunity that we didn't maybe get the second goal. Our performance in the second half I thought probably warranted it.
How important have these home games become for you this season?
We beat Everton, beat Nottingham Forest, we’ve drawn with Chelsea and we’ve drawn today with Aston Villa. We'd like it to be better but it's not a bad record in our last four home games. Our home form is probably not our biggest problem at the moment, it is our away form. Our home form has been okay. Today, the players played very well at times, they put in a good performance but we couldn't quite get a second goal or even a third goal at some times where it looked as if it was a chance.
Has not taking chances been the story of your season?
It has, that has been it. Today, we had four or five good opportunities and we just never seemed to get anything that clean or connect which is hugely important when you get chances. Maybe our decisions in the final third, we didn't make the right cut back, or weigh the pass correctly – all small things which maybe make our job easier when it gets to finishing at the last.
Are you starting to think what more can you do to score goals?
I think we had quite a lot of pressure, I think we missed a few, we missed the target on shots we hoped we’d be hitting the target. If you get something nice and clean it can make the difference. We played Forest a [fortnight] ago and we scored four goals, we did okay then. Today, we didn’t, we looked as if we weren't finishing well enough. I was pleased with the amount of opportunities we made. I thought we made a lot of opportunities today, I really did.
Did you think it was a flat atmosphere? Is that your responsibility to lift it or the fans?
I see it as our responsibility. We've had brilliant support over the last couple of years but I can understand we're not doing as well as people would hope or would like. I thought today's performance merited really good support, because the players came back from Thursday night, long flight back from Cyrpus, played there and went out and performed well today. We went a goal down and I didn't think we really deserved to go a goal down, I don’t think we’d done an awful lot wrong in the opening period and we found ourselves a goal down. But the players showed a lot of character, stuck at it, everyone ran and was committed throughout the game. They deserve a lot of praise, the players, for what they've done, they’ve been away and they’ve got something out of today’s game. Just a bit more quality at the death might have just got us something more.
Did Lucas Paqueta explain why he went straight down the tunnel when you took him off?
He wanted to stay on, which I understand, but I've told him and I explained to him. The biggest thing was I didn't want him to get sent off, but secondly, I don’t want him to get sent off because then he'd be suspended for future games, we need him. I was getting to the stage of the game where maybe fresh legs like Pablo [Fornals] and Maxi Cornet would continue to run in behind them if we got the chances. That was the thinking behind it.
Did you think of bringing Gianluca Scamacca on and change your mind afterwards?
We thought that Maxi would run more off them than Gianluca would at the time. I thought Gianluca would link the play up more, but I thought at that time in the end, we thought Maxi would be a better choice.
Said Benrahma had ten shots in the game, should he have scored more than one goal?
That’s really answered that question, we really need somebody to come up with the goals regularly. He took a brilliant penalty kick, no doubt about that. We need people, whether it be Danny [Ings] or Micky [Antonio] or Jarrod [Bowen]. I thought Jarrod played very well today, I thought he probably played as well as he has for a long time today, the way he took the full-back on, got to the byline, got crosses in, cut-backs, so Jarrod gave us a chance. Going back to your question, we need them all to try and score, we’re short of goals a wee bit.
Is it a good or bad thing that you do not have a Premier League game for three weeks now?
I don't really know, I couldn't really give you an answer to it. What I do know is that we've got a lot of home games coming up. I think we’ve got nine games in April now and I think the majority of them are at home. If you look at our record, we've been away a lot as you all know. Let’s be fair, we had a great period at home I think it was until October, where we went seven games unbeaten or something like that. At home, we were pretty good. Then just before the World Cup, we had lost a couple on the bounce which ruined that sort of record really. But we're back getting closer to what we were, we’re back at home, playing a bit better, got two draws and two wins out of the four games recently. Let’s hope that we can continue to build on it.
Do you have any thoughts on the Gary Lineker and BBC situation?
No, not really. I don't know enough about it to give you anything which I think would be worthwhile.
When you have had games where you have played well but not taken chances, are you tempted to change things up?
No, we think a lot about changing it up. We feel as if we’ve tried that as well. The boys that are here regular would tell you that we changed to three at the back for a while, we tried to find different ways. In the main, we had Micky Antonio for most of the season, we brought Danny Ings in. Really, he’s only just here. We've had Gianluca Scamacca who helped us in the early part of the season but has not got back to his levels really since from before the World Cup where he had an injury. We do, that’s why we’re needing Maxwel Cornet back, so that we have more options to change in the front line. Defensively, we've had to change regularly, partly because of different injuries and different situations. I think we have tried to change.
What is the latest on Michail Antonio and Vladimir Coufal?
Antonio got a kick in the calf and we’re not quite sure. We tested him this morning and he wasn’t quite right so we didn’t take the risk with it. Vladmir Coufal has got plantar fascia, I don’t know if he is going to be back in the week but he is improving. He is a boy who really wants to play. He's desperate to get out and show what he can do but he's got a foot injury. I don't think he'll be back this week, Vlad, maybe could be back for after the international break.
Even though you had no Lukasz Fabianski or Vladimir Coufal, is that close to your best 11?
I think we’re beginning to get closer to it but like the question, you don't want to talk about your best 11. I think there’s no teams now who have a best XI. I think every club you talk about, they have a best 16 or 17 and anyone of those players can get into the team and play. All the teams will change somebody around, squads seem to be getting bigger, more players seem to be getting in. I think it would be wrong for any manager to come out and say is that your best 11, because nowadays you have to like after 16/17 players in your squad.
How pleasing was it to have all eight summer signings in the squad for the first time in a Premier League game?
That’s right. I don’t know about you but I thought Emerson actually played very well today, I thought it was probably one of his best games for us as well. I think there were good things about our performance. We had a good result in midweek but I didn't like the performance. Today I don't hugely like the result but I certainly thought the performance was much better than what we’ve been showing.
Do you feel the pressure of the struggles of this season?
Of course there is. Of course, if you didn't, you'd be lying but I also say that you quite enjoy it. I’m sure that when you’re not working in football, you miss it. It doesn’t matter where you’re at, you miss it. So you've got to embrace it a little bit just now. There are good bits about it as well, like when you win and when you get good results, it’s great. Today, we played a bit better but we didn’t get the result.
Because you have kept this club safe before, does that allow you to be calm?
I hope so, that’s the plan. My plan was when I came here to make sure we got a team in the top-half of the league regularly. Sixth or seventh was great, a fantastic achievement I think in the two years. My plan was not to come back and be taking a team just outside of the bottom three or in the bottom three. The plan was to be much higher, but I've been here before at another club where you sometimes have good seasons and sometimes have a bad one. We’re looking at the Premier League this year and who would’ve said the team maybe at the top, I don’t know if everybody or many of your journalists would’ve probably would’ve said Arsenal would be top of the league, if you look at how well Brentford are doing and Brighton and Fulham, maybe a lot of people wouldn’t have said that either so it can change. The Premier League has got a league now where you just never know what's going to happen. Things don’t quite right, a few injuries, you don’t start so well you can be changing it. I'm hoping that all the experience I've got can help in some way but ultimately, I need the players to play be playing really well and I think we’ve got good players and I think the players can play better than they are showing. I thought today, we were a lot closer to a lot of the levels.
Why is Gianluca Scamacca not getting much game time at the moment?
His link up play is very good, he enjoys play. We know that his physical data has got to be much better than it is but even today, Maxi Cornet, the thought was he could get in behind them and let’s be fair, we probably did and we nearly did three or four other times, even Maxi had a couple of half chances, whether he was onside or offside. We saw Maxi doing that more than Gianluca. Gianluca has got to get himself back, as a manager, no manager wants to put out a bad team , you want to put out the players who you think are going to win for you, so you are always looking to put your best team out.
When you say physical data, is that application?
No, I think his application is there, I think we just want the output to be bigger and more, that’s one of things we are looking for more. The general part of his play, his hold up play, we like him for it, he’s really really good at it and we’ve not seen it as much in the work we’ve been doing.
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