This is what the FA Cup is all about isn't it?
It certainly is. I've been in winning teams and losing teams in different levels of the competition. I have been knocked out early and got to the cup final so you never know how the cup's going to go, but we're looking forward to the game.
You were part of a Preston team that lost to Kidderminster on their way to meeting West Ham in 1994
So people tell me but I hardly remember it but when I looked into it the only difference is that Kidderminster were doing really well in the conference at the time and I think we were in the bottom tier of the league in England so maybe not a big surprise as it is made out. But when non-league teams beat league sides it is always seen as a shock so we have to make sure that isn't the case here.
It is often seen as a leveller for the lower league team to be at home do you think that is the case?
If we were at the London Stadium it would be a different situation to going away from home, obviously the surroundings are not as big, the pitch might not be in as a good as a condition as we expect Premier League pitches to be but everyone has been brought up at this level and we have to show we can get to that level and perform.
On team selection will you give some young players a chance?
We went strong against Leeds, our players are well rested but we have a Premier League game in midweek so that has to come into consideration. We have got to go there and get through in the cup, to beat Leeds in the last round was very good and we want to see if we can go through to the next round by beating Kidderminster.
Are you Led Zeppelin fan? I hear that Robert Plant will be supporting the home team.
I heard he was a big Kidderminster fan and I was asking Stuart Pearce about it who is obviously a huge music fan, but he is more punk than anything else. Would Led Zeppelin come under heavy metal? I think they would but I am more Motown or soul. But nevertheless, obviously they have been an extremely well known band throughout their time.
How are you feeling after a January when you said things would be difficult and maybe the players you wanted were expensive so you have not been able to do the business you would like to have done.
There have been nine clubs in this January window who did not bring players in so it should not be that big a surprise. We did talk about it but for some reason it has been a much more difficult January window than others. I have to say we wanted to add to the squad if we could do, we targeted players who we thought could help but us but unfortunately we could not quite get them over the line.
Did anything get close to being done towards the end of the transfer window?
We certainly did [get close to deals] but for different reasons it didn't quite happen.
Kalvin Phillips, Raphina and Darwin Nunez were mentioned in the last few days is that the level you have to try to pitch at for your group because it is so strong and could you revisit the targets in the summer?
I'd never tell you my targets because that would be wrong even the names you are mentioning I could not guarantee if you were correct or not, but what I do want to do is be ambitious here at West Ham, I want to bring in good players and I want to add to what I think is a really good squad, we are building on it. Sometimes, getting things you actually want, you have to wait a little bit longer. We were not able to get it this January window. But I think it was quite obvious to most clubs, as I said I think it was nine clubs who didn't do any business in January, so it should be no surprise to a lot of people that we were one but we did try very hard I have to say.
On the FA Cup is this a competition you think you can win this season and is the message to the players to give Kidderminster the respect they deserve?
I would hope we would give all clubs respect and in many ways, you have to give the players and teams in the non-league even more respect, because with respect you might not know all their players and their stadium so you have to do even more work to be as prepared as well as you possibly can be.
We did a good job against Leeds so we have to make sure we do a good job in this round of the cup. All our draws have been hard in the cup, whether in the Carabao Cup or in Europe and now the FA Cup and I put Kidderminster in that as well, it is a tough game for us.
Is this a hiding to nothing?
Ultimately we are favourites to win the game and I have no doubt everybody will see it that way. But as we know the cup does not always pan out the way everybody thinks so we have to prepare right and be ready. We will inform our players regarding their players and how we see the game going and we will try and do that.
Will Michail Antonio be able to play?
Mic arrives back today at 11 O'clock from Jamaica which is not particularly good and realistically it is a terrible situation. Players are away at the African Nations who clubs have not got but this was an international week and we had Mic away and we get him back around 11 o'clock hopefully.
How do you feel about having a winter break but players have been at AFCON and World Cup qualifiers?
I think the biggest problem is that the scheduling for all the games is really tough for the people doing it. Everyone is trying to squeeze games in and the people who get affected are the players first and foremost, but if you're a club playing their wages, it's hardly correct you get a player back at 11 'o clock on a Friday morning to play at 12.30 on a Saturday but that is part of it and we have to live with it.
A lot of fans have been questioning the ambition not of you but your bosses and pointing out if Antonio got injured this month or next the season could quickly come to an end and what that signifies for Declan Rice in the summer.
I can only tell you the board were terrific through the January window and they have been since I have been here. They have supported us greatly and made funds available and we tried to use the money as best we could but we just could not get a couple of players I really liked so I would rather save the money than waste it.
Jesse Lingard in the summer then?
I don't know, we will see.
It is more than 40 years since West Ham won the cup.
We should go to Kidderminster first, see if we can win that game and get a bit closer. I'm looking forward to the second half of the season. We've got European football, we have really big games in the Premier League to see if we can stay near the top. We have to try and have good runs in the FA Cup, we beat Manchester United and City in the Carabao Cup and could not quite get past Tottenham in the quarter-finals so we have to have a good run in the cup to get closer to finals and winning them hopefully.
Is this a game that Alex Kral could get a run out in?
It is a possibility. I will look at the squad. The players are fresh but I've also got to keep them fresh for what is coming up as well in the second half of the season. Alex has been a bit unfortunate, he had a period where we had a couple of European games at the end [of the Group Stage] where he got Covid which made it difficult for him.
I would like to try and give Alex some minutes and give him an opportunity to show what he can do.
What does he need to do to get more chances?
I think Alex is still getting used to the speed and the whole situation but I think we've said many times how long it can take players to get used to Premier League football and what we need. Alex is just taking a little bit of time but hopefully he'll get some football second half of the season.
Do you accept it is a bit of a risk to carry on with one striker? Or is this you sticking to your guns of your policy of not just getting one in to have [extra bodies]?
There was no intention of taking any risk, I wouldn't use the word risk because we have other people who can play there.
We were always trying to add to what we thought we could do. It would hard to get better than Jarrod if we're talking about another striker.
I didn't just want backup, I wanted real competition. I could have easily gone out and bought backup, easily. I wanted people who were actually going to take other people's jerseys and challenge them.
