West Ham first-team coach Alan Irvine again stood in for David Moyes for the virtual pre-match press conference ahead of Leicester City v West Ham game on Sunday.
We weren’t expecting to see you, how is David Moyes?
He’s ok, I spoke to him this morning but he’s not been in as we hoped he might have been. He’s feeling OK but at the moment we are just following all the guidelines and protocols. He’s in contact with the medical people at the club obviously and the Premier League.
It’s been deemed that it is not right for him to come in just yet so we’ll take it day by day.
Any other injury news/illness list?
Obviously, the two other lads who had the positive tests, they have actually been back in now so that’s good.
Other than that we have pretty much got a full squad to pick from. Ryan Fredericks had an injury against Wolves so he’s not available.
Vladimir Coufal, what will he bring?
He’s a very experienced player for a start. Everyone has known that we have been short in terms of depth defensively so it is fantastic to get another defender in, someone who is highly experienced at club and international level.
He has a lot of caps, played a lot of Champions League and Europa League so he is someone we feel adds to the defensive unit that we have.
Happy with the quality of the squad or more needed?
Look, every manager will want to find more players. I don’t know too many managers in any transfer window that have been truly satisfied with the squad that they have, everyone is trying to improve and we will continue to look at the players in question up until the window closes.
Will the manager be back on the touchline for Leicester?
At this moment I would think that it is more likely he won’t be on the touchline at Leicester but that can change during the course of the day today and then tomorrow so we will carry on the way that we have been trying to work in his absence.
He may not be here in person but he continues to be involved in what we do and making the final decisions with everything we are doing. That will continue whether he is on the touchline or not.
Still need more cover at centre half?
Ideally, I think we do. Just pure numbers in terms of the players who can play in those roles so ideally we would like to continue to strengthen the squad but it has to be the right players.
The right value in terms of money and of course what they bring to the team and how much they will contribute because we don’t want to spend a whole lot of money which seems to be necessary in this market on players that won’t make an impact.
Not actually been a discouraging start to the season. Leicester flying, a good test of where you are?
It is a huge test. Obviously, Leicester have started the season extremely well and have a lot of very talented players, a lot of pace in their team and it will be a real test going there.
As Wolves was though, and Arsenal the week before. Everybody saw the fixtures when they came out and went “oh, they look difficult” but any fixture is in the Premier League.
If we have the same level of performance as we had in the last two Premier League games then we will be competitive.
Emotional day as this fixture two years ago saw the Leicester owner’s helicopter crash…
Of course. It was clear what everybody at Leicester thought of him, the important part that he played and the kind of person he seemed to be. I never had the pleasure of meeting him but certainly, you just gauge the effect it had on so many people.
I am sure it’ll be emotional but also, as professionals, they will have to put that to one side. I am quite sure that it will not have an adverse effect on their performance.
What has it been like not having Moyes on the touchline? Suggestion after Wolves he should stay away more?!?!
I definitely don’t think he should do that! We need him back as quickly as possible. The manager is one of the key people at any club and the rest of us can trey to relay his messages when he’s not around but the only way to get them nailed down, exactly how he wants is to deliver them himself.
Getting him back as quickly as possible is important but it has to be right for him and everybody else at the club. These are very difficult times.
No-one else has fallen ill?
Clearly, this is an illness that affects people very severely/ It is a very serious thing, I don’t think anybody quite knows what the full effects are and I don’t think it is consistent., it is different from one person to another.
So it is vitally important that we are safe, follow the protocols that are in place. We need to think about the safety of everybody else at the football club.
Too early in the season to suggest struggles away from home for West Ham?
We have only had one away game in the league, I don’t think we can get anything from that yet or for a pattern to emerge. We were extremely unfortunate to come away from Arsenal with nothing and we would hope that with the same level of performance at Leicester then we can get something.
I certainly think it is too early to draw any conclusions to draw anything into the league.
Confident of keeping Declan Rice?
Well, I am.
I don’t know what goes on elsewhere at the club but I know that Declan is working every day and is happy. The club doesn’t want him to leave and they don’t want to sell him.
I can’t see why he would want to leave
Alan Irvine press conference transcript via Sam Inkersole at Football.London