David Moys gave his post-match press conference after the Hammers 2-1 over Spurs at the London Stadium and this is what he had to say:
A tense finish but West Ham are in the top four, how do you reflect on the performance?
It’s the way the Premier League is going, all the games are tight with very little between them. Thankfully we got over the line, we had to hang in a little but at the end but we did a good job and the players have been great.
You must be so proud looking at the table?
Yeah to win this one today was really important because of the games we have got coming up. I said a few weeks ago if we can hang in there then we can look at it a bit further down the line.
We are really excited about it because this time last year we were worried sick we were going to get relegated, so we are thrilled about it. But the biggest thing for me is we can play much better and that is the bit that excites me and makes me think there is still better to come.
On Jesse Lingard, did you expect him to have this kind of impact?
There is a bit of me that says yes, Jesse is a really talented footballer it wasn’t long ago that he was an England international who was making a big contribution. I think he can play in two of three positions and he has shown he has got a goal in him.
Going into the January transfer window is never an easy time and I think this was probably one of the hardest because of the pandemic and the difficulty in getting players. So to bring somebody in who helps your team and improves it is not an easy thing to go and Jesse is improving it and making us better.
How is Tomas Soucek?
Well he got quite a deep cut as you can imagine and I have to give credit to my doctors for getting it done in five minutes, they did a brilliant job.
And then I have to give credit to the players because we had to play that period with ten men and try and make sure we didn’t do anything daft. So there were a lot of times in the game where we showed real character, desire, great commitment, all those things that you require and all that was in abundance today.
Your first win over Jose Mourinho in 16 was that a record you were aware of?
Well, yes because of how often the media would mention it but it wasn’t the most important thing to me.
The most important thing was beating Tottenham Hotspur because they have got a great squad, they have a really good team and more importantly, they have an excellent manager who has got an array of medals and has been one of the hardest opponents to play against for many years.
Given that Chelsea and Liverpool dropped points yesterday was there more pressure on you today?
I’d love to say we did feel more pressure but we didn’t because the pressure of a derby game was the most important thing today. We realised that was important for the supporters and we wanted to get a good result for them.
What we are trying to do is stay away from the question of ‘Chelsea didn’t win or somebody else didn’t win’ because where we are is an incredible position at this time of the year.
We have shown incredible form in 2021, we showed good form since we came back from lockdown so I think for me we are still improving and still trying to really find our best form and we have got a bit of competition.
Jesse has come in and helped, we have got Said [Benrahma] we have Manuel Lanzini, Jarrod Bowen, so we have a group of players where I can say ‘if you want the jersey you are going to have to show me and perform well.’
Is the expectation something you can thrive on?
I actually think that a manager’s job is to raise expectations, but when he does that there is a job to manage it.
West Ham are a club that may have won a big game [in the past] but what West Ham couldn’t do was have a bit of consistency and stability, that was the way I looked at it from my understanding of football.
So I am looking at West Ham and saying, ‘what is the first thing I’d like to do?’ Well, I’d like to get a consistent level of performance so that we are not a team around the bottom or bobbing around too much I want us to be higher up.
Undoubtedly we are ahead of our time so is there an expectation to finish up there? I don’t know if there is, I think it will be driven by the media and other people.
I have just told the players, we have done half the job lets see if we can finish the other half off. Where does that last half take us? I’m really hoping we can get into one of the European competitions but if it doesn’t and we finish outside it I think it would be hard to say the players haven’t had a good year because they have done a great job.
You came under a lot of pressure but defensively you must have been delighted?
I am really pleased for a couple of reasons, we have had to out another defensive line together because we lost Angelo Ogbonna who has been so consistent. He was in excellent form for us.
We had Fabian Balbuena at the start of the year and we brought Craig Dawson in who has done great, Fabi did great as well.
Then we have gone to Issa Diop today so we are really piecing together all the time. So to get the result and, muddle through a little bit we have had to keep changing and looking for different formations in different games.
They showed great resilience and I think they have done all season and today was a different performance from the 3-3 at Spurs where we were the team who had to come back.
Today Tottenham were the team who had to come back and show a different side and thankfully we were able to hold out.
Do the players practice goal celebrations?
I’m a bit old-fashioned, I liked it where you hugged the players then ran away two arms in the air Alan Shearer like that was always a good way. we have seen a few like that, Alan Clarke style.
For me, they were great celebrations. I’m not sure I know all the modern ones!
Ultimately we want the team to celebrate together because it is a team game and not an individual one.
Do you think the 3-3 draw in October gave the players confidence? Just four losses since then.
I really do yes, sometimes you need a bit of good fortune in football and in management you need a bit of good luck, although I wouldn’t say it was good luck that night.
Manuel Lanzini’s goal was unbelievable and a moment that as a player or a manager you don’t get very often to come from 3-0 down.
It gave us confidence. we have played very well on the night, especially from 3-0 down so today to get another result against Tottenham who I think the players they have got [are excellent], obviously we all know their centre-forwards are top players so for us to keep them quiet with what we are putting out right now is us doing a good job.
Interview transcript credit: Tom Clark/Football.London