Well, a draw against Newcastle last week, what did that performance tell you about where your team are at in terms of how you want them playing?
There’s obviously three disappointing factors in three different situations where we stopped ourselves winning three points and that was the penalty miss and two penalties given their way. When we contain a Newcastle side that’s third in the league to so few opportunities and so a few chances, we really did kick ourselves in the guts by gifting those penalties.
I think, for me, it was a bitter pill to swallow the next day when we looked at the situation and what we'd done and how much we got on the brink of a crucial three points with only two games left after this one. As I said, we were probably 60-65 per cent sure we’d stay up if we’d have won that game and now we've got to go and win at West Ham. It wouldn't have been essential to win at West Ham I don’t think we’d have won last week. I think a point would have been another great achievement, trying to win but making sure we didn't lose and then going into the last game.
Over that disappointment just cut out those mistakes to the players. We've all got to remember that time is running out and errors will be punished in the Premier League and we have to limit those errors. Performance to stay the same and commitment to stay the same and hopefully we can we can perform at a higher level to try and win the match.
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As you said going there looking to try and win, depending on other results on Saturday, if they go against you, you're going to have to win. Have your players got what it takes to cope with that pressure?
Well, that's a great question. I think that it is a difficult situation. If you find that the teams down there on the Saturday have picked up three points then it's nearly an almost certainty that you have to get three points to stay in the race. So when it comes around and what the situation is when we get to Sunday afternoon, we have to deal with it, we have to accept it and we have to make it spur us on to the best performance we can give no matter what goes on on Saturday.
We have to deliver a three-point scenario at West Ham to try and save our Premier League status and handling the pressure that comes with that is a big question of ‘can you?’. They certainly handled that pressure last week, apart from, of course, as I said before, apart from the silly errors we gave away the penalties. I'm pleased we've had the reaction was had and when you consider that Newcastle just have just battered Brighton 4-1 again it gives an indicator of where we've come in a short period of time.
I suppose you could say when Manchester City battered Real Madrid, and you look we played there and what we did to try and stay in the game it shows some good indicators without any points on the board, of course. So I think we're in the right direction and the players’ confidence should be a little better and deliver that performance to try and win, but the crucial factor will be obviously trying to obtain our first clean sheet.
You talked about the penalty miss last weekend and the club put out a statement afterwards because of the abuse that Patrick Bamford had been receiving. Have you had conversations with him this week and how's his mindset coming into this weekend?
It's been okay. Obviously extremely upset about the situation and of course, you know something that is of very, very, very bad taste indeed. I like the police to do a lot more. It appears that on social media, they rule the world and can say and do as they want, unfortunately. Which is why the world is in such a big mess. He's handled it pretty well. I think the club gave him as much support as he needed, particularly security-wise, and it wasn't just about him, it's about his family. The best way is to go out on the pitch on Sunday, perform to his highest level, try and score and it would be even greater if he went and scored the winner. So hopefully it's not affected or won't affect his performance.
In terms of Sunday's game, your former club, what do you make to the job that David Moyes has done and getting them to a European final and do you hope that that may be factored into his team selection on Sunday?
Well, we probably can normally guess the team that is going to be picked on the Sunday we play them but it is very difficult to pick this one because obviously looking at Brentford last week when they played he made nine changes.
Our preparation is to try as best we can to predict the team and how West Ham play and do a little bit of practice against that, both offensively and defensively. We won't really know what team is going to pick to get the team sheet. We might need to have a little chat to the players before the go out. But I think they'll basically, even though he might change the team, probably play the same way as he normally does. So we could practice that a little bit today and tomorrow before we travel to West Ham.
Pleased for him, known him many years, many, many years. I brought him to or recommended Preston signed him many years ago and he came down from Scotland and he’s had a fantastic career. So glad to see that he’s brought so much to West Ham after having a difficult season in the league. it'll be good to see him but hopefully when we have a drink after it will be us that has got three points and not him.
With regards to West Ham, what was the best possible result for you last night?
Winning. There's no doubt about that. That means they have a final to think about and subconsciously, you'll never know whether that may affect the players in terms of when they go out and play. They’ll go out and try their best but subconsciously they won’t want to get injured. Certainly one would worry that I wouldn't want to miss a final so there might be a little more tentative, who knows. My job is about my team playing to the best they possibly can play whatever team we face against West Ham that that's good enough to try and win the game.
You’ll know how hard it can be to turnaround after a Thursday night game and the areas to exploit?
Well, it depends. It’s how many players he picks that didn't play is the first thing we have to consider because I think it was nine changes against Brentford, whether he makes similar changes or some changes but not quite as many, we’ll have to consider that. Those players will be fit and raring to go if they haven’t had an opportunity to play on Thursday night. The rest if they have played on Thursday night, it doesn't happen until last 20 minutes, fatigue kicks in. So stay in the game as long as you can, try and get in front in the game as quick as you can and then, like I said, if we get our first clean sheet, I think we have a great opportunity.
What are your fitness concerns?
There’s only Dallas, Adams, Sinisterra. Cooper is back in training and Roca has a patellar tendon injury so not too bad injury front.
Obviously you’re without Junior Firpo, what are your thoughts there?
We've been talking about that in terms of who do we fit into that position or do we perhaps change the system to a different way of playing. So we've got to look at what West Ham did last night and last week at Brentford. Then, we've got to look at what players we've got available and pick a system to suit our team that's available and or compete against West Ham.
On the social media thing, has that whole experience galvanised the players even more this week?
I would hope so. I do fear our life as an old timer now. I fear for our life with social media and what it’s bringing to the world. AI, I’ve just heard about 40,000 jobs going from BT, so what are they going to do? The next piece of AI comes in and another 30,000 jobs go, what are they going to do? So, for me, it's not a great future, the way we're looking at the world and what we're doing with climate change and that, so that's me outside of football talking about the worry for my grandchildren but that’s another matter
Are there advantages or disadvantages in playing after your big rivals down there?
I think one of the biggest researches we did when we played in Europe was the Sunday game after the Thursday night and how many teams struggle to get results. That's obviously the case for teams with slightly lesser squads than the big boys. So when Man City plays in the Champions League, who are used to play for the Champions League and have the squad of 24 international players, it's not as great of a concern for them, but when you have a lesser squad, talented but not quite as talented as them, it always became a factor, the aftermath of a Thursday night game and playing Sunday. It was a worry for me as a manager and a concern. So the fact that West Ham lost to Brentford will be a concern to David. That's why I don’t think he’ll make as many changes because he’ll want to win.
Did you watch West Ham on Thursday night?
I had to flick between Sheffield Wednesday and Peterborough. My son rang me up and said there was the most bizarre game going on over on the other side. I had to flick between the two because I had West Ham recording anyway, so it could go back to that. But I was enthralled by what was happening at Sheffield Wednesday.
What have you made of Georginio Rutter in training and in the U21s, is he one for the future or could he still make an impact?
I don't know, to be honest. I haven't seen enough. I've seen him play twice and obviously as a youngster and the position that we're in here, it is a next season scenario for him. What is he going to need to do. He came in January and I think that's a heavy price tag on his shoulders. But I think that when you're young and you come to the Premier League for the first time, you've got to settle in and next season would be the big test for him because the whole of the Premier League demands much more than ability to be a Premier League player.
You’ve talked about outrunning opposition, is it possible to suddenly switch on or turn up the intensity of a team this late in the season?
Yeah. It’s easy if you've got your mindset the right way. You’ll run your fastest if I point a gun at you and say I’ll shoot you, even though you've never run that fast before, or you might just freeze and get shot.
You've talked about Saturday and the results that Everton and Nottingham Forest could get. If they do get the results they need, how will you channel that pressure into what is effectively a cup final at West Ham, do or die?
That's it, do or die, lads. Fight to the end, but fight with the right temperament and the right amount of control and don't lose control. Certainly don't lose the game plan. In the games I've looked at before I got here it was a loss of control by a team that went a little crazy in terms of just going all out to try and score a goal and end up conceding two, three, four or five. So you don't lose control and you stay in the game or you try and get ahead in the game. When it gets to the latter stages, depending on where we are, is where less risk more risk comes into play.
Adam Forshaw has been one of the silver linings in your first two games and we were a little bit surprised you didn't start him last weekend, you explained that. Is he in a position to start this weekend?
It's just his body, his career and the fact that we have to handle him with a little bit of care. I think that he is a vital part of what's going to happen on Sunday. If he can get on the pitch, hopefully he can stay on the pitch for as long as possible because I see him as a very valuable assets in midfield.
In terms of addressing those areas that you talked about last week. Is it is it more about showing them where they went wrong or is it about working on their concentration and their mindset?
It’s only slight detail and it gets difficult to explain the slight detail but the position of your body on the penalty is critical. So it's only from there to there and his hand doesn't have to go up and he can just adjust and clear play the ball. That's all it is. You’re talking about maybe 8-10 centimetres. Turn his body around, he can move his feet, he can jump and head the ball away. It's that simple.
The other one is just there's no need to tackle in the box. You have to stay on your feet because everybody dives over a leg or gets a touch and goes down so don’t give them the opportunity. That based on the fact we had given the penalty away against Manchester City it was just a deeply disappointing fact. The only disappointing thing was how costly it became obviously time is running out. So when you're responsible for throwing two points away, if the opposition score and they score a great goal from their skill of their ability like Manchester City did, you hold your hands up and say we've done our best to try and stop that but you can’t because they're so good and so skilful, and it's such a great goal, such a great movement.
But those were so avoidable for us which is most disappointing to me. it's hard for the centre halves here because it's me, because I’m a centre-half. So it is the hardest position to play in at this club. I talk about it all the time about how important they are, how they have to keep the back door shut and how they have to defend correctly and always be alert to what the opposition's attack is trying to do and always be one step ahead. That's the essential part of being a centre-half. It's not about running out the back and the middle because you play out a load of b------s today. It's about defending and defending properly because if we had more clean sheets we’d already be safe.
It’s only little details but do you think it's the case that these lads haven't been taught that or are they just under pressure?
I think it’s pressure. I mean, we all make mistakes. But it's how costly the mistakes and there's only one person can make fewer mistakes than your centre half and that's your goalkeeper and that is a fact of life. So you live as a centre half you live on the edge all the time because if your mistake costs a goal, it’s your mistake. That's why you live on the edge all the time when you're playing in a game. The midfielders, centre forwards can make more mistakes and then wait for the next one or whatever it might be but centre halves and goalkeepers it’s full concentration for the 90 minutes we play.
Is it tempting to think that because West Ham have Europe to think about and because Tottenham’s season is done that these may be become bigger opportunities for you. Is that simplistic or is it realistic?
I think we have to try and find out what we're going to do against West Ham. We're going to try and test them as early as we can by how we choose to play. Aware of West Ham Yes, aware of what they might be, yes. But it won't matter, the system won't matter unless the players play their best. The systems are nothing if the players don’t play the best, the system’s not broken. ‘The coach doesn't know what he's doing’, that's what comes afterward in the media, social media and interviews and radio and TV and all that. ‘The manager doesn’t know what he’s doing’, of course he does, just the players fail to do it and fail to keep that cool and apply themselves in the correct manner.
What we have to do is to test West Ham to see where they are, see whether there's any legacy from the game on Thursday night and try to take advantage of that, whether it’s in the first 20 minutes, midway or at the end. Whether they may tire, if he's picking the team that played last night, we just have to make sure that we're in a position to win or are in a winning position going into the last steps of the game.
What are you seeing in the players because this really severe pressure now?
I think confidence has grown, I think application has been applied. I think that possession could get better. I think we've been so up for it and so frantic to try and do well and close your position down and make life difficult, but when we actually won the ball back we’ve still been so hyper that we haven't been able to just calm down and control ourselves to play the right balls and the right pass more often. So the difference between those two is something we've talked about, being calmer when we're on the ball and movements and picking out better passes and retaining possession better. That will hopefully get us up the pitch and more opportunities to score.
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