David Moyes praised his players’ signs of improvement following a strong overall performance in Sunday’s 1-0 win over Wolverhampton Wanderers.
The scoreline might not have reflected the Irons’ general dominance at London Stadium, as Tomáš Souček’s close-range winner in the second half was all the Hammers had to show for a productive performance in terms of chances created.
The Czech Republic midfielder – who celebrated his 27th birthday in memorable style – might have seen his goal added to by a Declan Rice curler from outside the box which hit the post before the break, and further presentable chances for Michail Antonio and Jarrod Bowen.
But whilst Wolves admittedly pressed heavily in search of an equaliser in the final quarter of the game, the resilience which the manager spoke of as a requirement prior to kick-off was on show.
And that collective spirit also manifested itself in his players' display of solidarity in light of global events this week, with numerous display of support for Andriy Yarmolenko and the people of Ukraine.
I thought we played much better today.
I thought there were signs that our football was improving. I liked the way we played the ball a little bit better, I thought we made more chances today than we’ve had maybe recently.
I’d have liked us to have taken one or two others which would’ve made my job and how I felt a lot easier, but overall, that was very good.
I also felt the goalkeepers and defenders did a really good job in keeping a clean sheet.
We went to 3-5-2 because I was more concerned that, with Wolves playing that shape, we might find difficulties, because you can see how good a footballing team they are at the moment.
I thought the way we went about the game for the first 30 minutes especially was excellent and the only difficult thing, maybe disappointing thing, was that it didn’t lead to a goal.
We’ve done an awful lot of good things and the players have done really, really well today.
I thought that Wolves would try to change and make things better in the second half, which they did do.
We also talked [at half-time] about being patient. Wolves don’t concede many goals. It’s not that easy.
I was a bit worried because we had made chances, and they’d made quite a few changes to their team today. I was expecting all of their big-hitters to be coming on later, so from that point of view, I was disappointed we didn’t get a goal up.
I always had the feeling that if we could hang in the game, we could get a goal from somewhere.
We’re really happy for Tomáš Souček.
He’s not playing his best, he knows that, and we’re doing everything to get him back.
I think for Tom, arriving in the box more often, like he did today, will be a big help. Thankfully he got in the right spot today and got us a goal.
We’re going to need resilience because we’ve got so many games coming up.
I think the tightness in the Premier League is as close as it’s ever been. I can hardly call a game at the moment with the way the results are going.
Whether it be trying to avoid relegation or trying to get into Europe, whatever position you are, you can see it’s really, really tight this season.
We might find that we have lots of this type of game this season, where we’re under pressure, and we’re going to have to try to win them at all costs. We’ve lost a few as well late on, so I was really pleased that we got through the last 15 minutes.
I think the message that football has given out, that the players in the Premier League have given out, is a great message.
Football is so important throughout the world. The Premier League is screened to every country. Anything we can to do tell everybody that this [war in Ukraine] is wrong is really important.
I’m pleased that the players are supporting Andriy Yarmolenko as we all are, but more importantly, that we’re all supporting Ukraine.