West Ham United manager David Moyes spoke at length at the club’s Rush Green training ground on Tuesday afternoon ahead of facing Leeds United on Wednesday night.
The Hammers currently sit 17th in the Premier League table and only out of the relegation zone on goal difference following five straight defeats in the top-flight, their worst run since April 2017.
Here is every word Moyes said on the game, pressure on him, Declan Rice, Mark Noble, Gianluca Scamacca and more.
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How is Kurt Zouma’s injury and Michail Antonio’s illness?
Micks had a bit of illness that a lot of people have had around the country at the moment. Hopefully, Mick is okay. Kurt is doing well but he’s not available this game.
Is Nayef Aguerd in contention for a full Premier League debut
He is. He is getting himself back at the moment and he’s getting himself back ready. He picked up a virus when he was at the World Cup and he picked up an injury, which didn’t help either, just before the semi-final. He's back training and has been building himself up here.
How big of a player can he be this season?
I think he’s really important but again, it’s a new player we’ve introduced with many others, getting used to the Premier League at times can take a little bit longer than you hope. But we’ve not had Nayef because he picked up an injury at Rangers in a pre-season friendly and unfortunately, we’ve not had him to start any games.
How big is the match against Leeds United for you and the club after five straight Premier League defeats?
The same as every other game, you get three points for it. Obviously, the importance of it is really big, we know that. It was the same as when we played Brentford on Saturday and it was the week before when we played Leicester before then and Crystal Palace if you remember those games, and Arsenal. It's very big but so were they.
There is a lot of scrutiny around your position going into this game. How would you say you are feeling going into it in terms of pressure?
I’m feeling really good because I’ve had great support from David Sullivan and the board who have been right behind me and it’s really good because you know you can put yourself under pressure a little bit, but overall, they’ve been very, very good, very supportive and backing me.
What would your message be to West Ham supporters?
I don’t know if that’s words you are using and the wrong words. I think West Ham supporters have been incredibly supportive. I think they probably see what’s going on here in the last three years and would probably say the opposite. They are desperate to do well and are desperate for their manager to do well.
Do you think you can get more out of Gianluca Scamacca, who only has two league goals this season?
Yes, we can and we will but I’ve said a few times, it can take some players time to settle into this country. A young centre forward coming from Italy. We think he’s got a big future. We like him a lot, I think he’s got so many attributes. But it can take time sometimes. He’s spelled a lot bit with Micky at different times this season. He's had a couple of injuries, he was a bit behind when he came in in pre-season. It might just take him a little bit longer to get used to it.
The transfer window is now open. What can you do in this window?
I’ve said to you before, so you actually know the answer, we’re probably due to spend no money. We’ve planned, we’ve spent our money but that might change, you never know.
How big is it to have Mark Noble back at the club as sporting director?
It's great that Mark Noble is here for West Ham football club and the supporters. He’s been someone who gave his whole career to this one club. He’s back in but you’ve got to remember he's in a trainee new job, he’s training to be a sporting director. It’s great that we have him around for his personality, for what he brings to the football club, but he’s training in a new job to be a sporting director.
You have won your last two visits to Elland Road, how good would it be to make that three tomorrow night?
It would be really good. The idea is that we go there, be positive, which we have been, play as well as we did last week if we can do, cut out a couple of mistakes and hopefully, take the chances when they drop to us.
Do you feel that like yourself, many other clubs are struggling with finding a top striker to score goals?
I remember the last two years, everybody said you need another striker, you need back-up to Mick. Everyone was saying it all the time. It’s interesting, we had a list of strikers and quite a lot of the ones are the ones you might be talking about at other clubs now who we didn’t get for different reasons or we couldn’t afford or the didn’t want to come. I do think that [trying to find top strikers]. Obviously, we can all think of [Erling] Haaland of the top of our head who has looked unbelievable, probably better than anyone expected, there's an awful lot of other ones who have been the group who haven't quite hit the heights which were expected. I think that’s what it is, I think finding really good centre forwards at the minute is really difficult.
Do you think it’s a problem for football generally?
I think it is. When you look back at our history, we moved Marko Arnautovic to become a centre forward. We moved Micky Antonio, probably to become a centre forward. You have to say that looking at centre forwards who have really stepped up, there’s not been huge numbers. We can all think of Harry Kane and the top players, [Gabriel] Jesus has done brilliantly well at Arsenal since he’s gone, but there's probably a lot of players new coming and that’s why I say, bringing Gianluca into that equation, a lot of them need time to settle into the Premier League, be aware how it works, the challenges and how tough every game in the Premier League is.
Knowing that, does that mean that not only is there pressure on you to score goals, but other clubs as well and it’s not halfway in the season yet?
We're not at the halfway point yet. The way it’s worked out, sometimes it feels as if we’ve got there. We’re not halfway through the season yet. Really, if the World Cup hadn't been on we wouldn't be at the game at Christmas time yet. We have to buck up, we have to do better, we have to play better. We have to find a way of winning games, which is the key. I've been in this position twice before and we did a very good job. I don’t think we’re in that position, because I think we’ve got a good team. I think we’ve got a better team now than we’ve ever had. We just need to show that form.
A few fans on social media have spoken about Declan Rice’s body language after the game against Brentford. Is that something you have picked up on?
I think people can have their opinion, if you go on the forums that you do then you might hear it, I don’t. I’m not really in a position to answer it, but Declan played fantastically well in midweek. He did, he played really, really well. He has done for nearly all the time I’ve been here. He’s been in excellent form and he’s driven us on, he tried to drive us on in the week. He did everything he could. I don't hear or don’t see what you are telling me.
What do you make of Leeds United manager Jesse Marsch and his style of play?
If you understand the Red Bull model, then you understand a lot of Jesse Marsch. The way they play, what he’s done, how the likes of Salzburg would play, how Leipzig play because the Red Bull model has got an idea of how they play and how they set up. He's done it very well, he's implicated it very well. It's something which might take a bit of time but I think he’s just getting a bit of a grip on it. He’s had maybe six months in the Premier League or something like that now, so he’s beginning to get more used to it.
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