West Ham United manager David Moyes spoke to the media ahead of the Europa Conference League match against Gent tonight.
Over the course of two legs, David Moyes hopes to lead West Ham to the quarter-finals of the Europa Conference League by defeating Gent.
However, with a game against Arsenal looming and West Ham’s current position in the Premier League table, tonight’s game will be challenging in terms of striking a balance.
For Hammers’ manager Moyes, selecting the right team for tonight’s game will be critical. Balancing domestic and continental football has always been difficult, and tonight will not be an exception.
It’s possible that the Scottish manager will shake things up from last weekend’s triumph over Fulham.
When questioned about whether he would field a strong team for tonight’s game against Gent, Moyes replied, according to Football.London.
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.
It appears that Moyes is considering making some changes for tonight’s match, with a very difficult game against Arsenal just three days away.
Except for Gianluca Scamacca, Moyes has a solid team to pick from.
In our opinion, the Scottish coach should prioritize tonight’s game. Let’s face it, regardless of which squad Moyes selects, there’s a slim chance we’ll get anything out of the Arsenal match.
It would come as a major surprise to me if Moyes opts to field a weakened team tonight. We have more winnable Premier League games to look forward to down the line, and there’s no point in saving players for the Arsenal match. Besides, we haven’t won a trophy since 1980!
