West Ham United manager David Moyes spoke to the media at length on Friday afternoon ahead of Sunday’s trip to Tottenham Hotspur.
The Hammers head to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium this weekend hoping to improve on their recent unbeaten record in the Premier League, having picked up five points from their last three games against Everton, Newcastle United and Chelsea.
Here is every word Moyes said on the London derby, team news, Danny Ings and more.
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What is the latest on team news and injuries? Is there good news with Gianluca Scamacca returning to training?
Lucas Paqueta’s not going to be available for the game. Nayef has got a chance but we’re not sure yet if he’s going to make it or not. Look, it’s great that Gianluca’s back but he’s nowhere near ready to be selected. I might try and involve him but I’ve got to say, it would be minimum minutes, he’s just back really.
Is Maxwel Cornet close to a return?
We’re looking forward to that, I’ve got to say, looking forward to getting him back. It seems like a long time since we’ve had him. We’re probably due him back next Monday, whether that means training or whether that means we’ve got periods of breaking him in. We’ll certainly have to build him to get back and be ready to play, that is for sure.
Is now a good time to play Tottenham Hotspur?
I don't think there ever is a good time to play Tottenham because they’ve got a host of good players, a really good team. I couldn’t put it down to any good time, but obviously this is the time we’ve got the game and we have time to play them. We'll try and go into the game really positive, we will try and show the form we have been finding a little bit more at the moment so, if we can do that, it will be a good game.
Does Antonio Conte’s health-enforced absence put things into perspective?
I’m more thinking about Antonio that he looks after himself and he’s right to do so. He would be a big miss for any club, Antonio, because he’s a top manager. He’s had a lot of success wherever he’s been. Puts big demands on his teams and his players and works them really well. He will be a miss but they've got really a good group of players at Tottenham and they will get on with the job.
Have you enjoyed managing against his sides?
I've enjoyed managing against him. He’s had many good teams over many years and obviously he's an elite manager, I've got a great respect for him.
Have you got anything planned to try and stop Harry Kane?
I've tried lots of times to get him I’ve got to say. He is a top player and we will be difficult to play against him for any side, we will do everything we can to try and contain him.
Does Everton’s six-pointer with Leeds United change anything for you?
In truth, I’ve not really got any interest in the other game, I've only really got interest on us. I can tell you a bit about us, I can’t tell you about the other teams. I can tell you that we've found ourselves getting a little bit better form. We’ve started to score a few goals, we’ve started to be a bit more resilient again, which is good from our point of view. We want to keep all of those good points going. Ultimately, we don't want draws, we want wins and we have to make sure that we pick up more of them.
What have you learned from your draws with Newcastle United and Chelsea?
I'm taking in that last year, I was trying to win the games and not draw, that’s for sure. It tells me a little bit that I have to keep looking to improve. Was I happy with a draw? Yes, I was. On both occasions, I thought they were both good draws. Ultimately, it probably tells you where my mind is. I want to win the games, I don’t want to be drawing them. At the moment, maybe the draws are pretty good results.
What do you make of the atmosphere with the players on these draws? Has there been a lift?
I didn't think there was a bad atmosphere, if you are suggesting that, when we were losing, far from it. We were actually quite buoyant and we’ve kept everyone’s heads up really as much as we can. We’ve had some good results and there’s signs of players beginning to get back to their form a few minutes ago. Jarrod [Bowen] is getting back in the goals, Micky [Michail Antonio] is just beginning to play a little bit better as well, Lucas Paqueta is beginning to settle, everyone is beginning to look at Nayef Aguerd as well. There’s a lot of coming through so we want to maintain that.
Your other meeting was a 1-1 draw, what has changed since?
I've had a look at the game, and the game was close. Tottenham were probably the better team in the first half, we got a lot better as the game went on. I think Tottenham have kept their levels up for most of the season, we've maybe not reached where we think we want to be, so it gives us something to go for. We've got room to improve and we want to keep doing that.
How is Danny Ings? Will he be a regular starter?
We hope so. We brought him here to get some goals but we just need to make sure we bring him back. He's had a knee injury so we just need to look after him as best we can as well. We're looking forward to getting him in and him giving us the goals.”
Have you had bad luck with injuries?
It's not been great news getting boys injured but it's part of the game. If we look back over the last two or three years, we had a brilliant injury record, very few players out injured. It's only really since we've come back this season. Whether that's because of 60-odd games last year and the same the year before, whether that's got something to do with it I couldn't be sure. Whether we've been unlucky with injuries...but it's certainly got something to do with the new players – Paqueta had a period where he was out, and then he was injured again at Southampton with his collarbone, he got something with the same shoulder. Aguerd got injured at the start of the season. We missed Kurt Zouma for a chunk of it, we were without Craig Dawson at the start of the season, so we've had a really difficult period with injuries. But it's the same, Tottenham have got injuries as well, so it's the same for all clubs and we're not on our own.
Being a Premier League manager is a 24/7 job. How hard is it to have to step away like Antonio Conte has to?
It's really difficult. If you're a manager, the one place you want to be is on the touchline and with the team, you always feel it's very difficult to have an effect and you feel really responsible. During covid it was really hard watching the games from the flat I was in and trying to watch it and send some messages at half time and leaving people to it. But it also taught me another bit, about having to sit back and take the emotion out of it – I've tried to learn a little bit from Covid, so I'm sure Antonio (Conte) won't want to be at home, but obviously his health is the most important thing and we wish him well.
West Ham went on a good run of results when you had to take some time away?
They did absolutely great without me, so I hope that Tottenham aren't saying the same about not having Antonio.
What do you do as a manager to be as physically fit as possible?
We're really fortunate that the LMA have incredible help behind the scenes for us for our physical health and mental health – they do so much for managers nowadays it really is incredible what goes on. We're all screened regularly, we're all fitness tested regularly, so all of those at the LMA do a brilliant job for all the managers and we're all really grateful for it. So we try to keep ourselves in the best condition, but any jobs with a level of stress – football management is a great job but there's always bits of stress in it and we have to try and cope with that as well.
How do you feel, soon to be approaching the age of 60?
I feel good, but like you're saying – anybody, whether we're football managers or not – we have to look after our health. Thankfully we've got really good doctors at West Ham as well and because of that we keep going.
How frustrating is it to have not won at Tottenham Hotspur since 2008?
I've got quite a few records like that which I'd like to get rid of, I have to say. But you know it's always going to change and hopefully the next game is the one that we do it. I do remember winning at Tottenham, and I do remember how important it was for me, so hopefully I can do it again.
How good would it be to win, given the rivalry between the two sides?
I am aware of it. I think we're trying to give West Ham supporters as many good occasions as we can, we're well aware of how important it is to the supporters here.
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