West Ham United manager gave a pre-match interview ahead of their Europa Conference League match against Gent tonight.
As relays the HammerNews, Moyes will be hoping to steer his team through to the quarter-finals with a win over two legs, but with a challenging clash against Arsenal on the horizon and their current position in the Premier League table, balancing the demands of domestic and continental football will be tricky.
It will be crucial for Moyes to select the right team for tonight’s match, and he may consider making changes from their last weekend’s victory over Fulham. When asked about whether he plans to field a strong team, Moyes was non-committal but acknowledged the importance of the match and the opportunity it presents for his team to progress.
Moyes admitted: “I’m not going to give too much away but we’ve obviously got a lot of important games. I’m sure Gent have a lot of important games as well, it’s not just us. We’ve got a situation in the Premier League where we have to keep trying to win our games. But the chance to get through to a semi-final, we have to try and take every opportunity we can and I wouldn’t want to give that up easily.”
“It’s really difficult. If you look at all the teams who play on a Thursday, it’s very hard to get a result on the Sunday. It’s been a difficult balancing act but I hope we’re in this position for another few games. What do you do? You take the next game, focus on it completely, do everything you can to win it, and then go to the next one.”
“It would be much nicer if we had another seven or eight points. We don’t. I’ve a quarter-final of a European competition which I’m thinking to myself wow, can we go further? We had great nights in Europe last year and I’m hoping to give the supporters a couple more. So we have to try to get the balance right. It’s not easy. Thursday, Sunday is not an easy thing and other teams next year will have to deal with it.”