David Moyes has been speaking to the media ahead of West Ham United’s Emirates FA Cup fifth round tie at Manchester United at Old Trafford on Wednesday evening.
The Hammers head to the Carabao Cup winners following a 4-0 triumph over Nottingham Forest at London Stadium on Saturday, knowing they will have to be at their best to book a spot in the last eight.
While Moyes’ men won the last cup fixture held at Old Trafford between the sides, with Manuel Lanzini deciding a 1-0 win in September 2021, they seek their first FA Cup win over the Red Devils since 2001, when Paolo di Canio silenced the home fans in Stretford with a neat finish past Fabien Barthez.
The boss spoke about building momentum following the home win over Forest, with the Irons ready for three consecutive away fixtures in a trio of competitions, with Brighton & Hove Albion in the Premier League and AEK Larnaca next in the UEFA Europa Conference League round of 16.
Moyes also added his thoughts on midweek cup action, spirits in the camp and the task of travelling away to Manchester United.
We have always had a good mood within the camp, and I always felt the players were in good spirits before Forest.
We try to focus on the games one at a time and we focused really well on Nottingham Forest and that got us a really important three points in the league, and goals as well, which have been difficult to come by. But I am really pleased with how the players performed and hopefully, we can build on it and keep it going.
Everyone has seen a much-improved Manchester United.
I thought Newcastle played very well in the Carabao Cup final as well. It was a tight game but Manchester United got there in the end. They have got a really strong squad of players but we feel as if we are improving and as if we are getting a little bit closer to our past selves, so hopefully, we can show that and put on a good show in the game.
I would love to get West Ham to a cup final.
I would love to win a cup final if we could get there. We had a great run at Everton and got to the final one year and beat in the semi-final one year. I would love to be able to take West Ham into a similar position.
On the road, we have got to play some difficult games.
Old Trafford is a really difficult game. I think we have drawn them in three of the last four years away from home in the cup competitions but that is what it is. You have to play the top teams as part of the journey.
We have been away to Brentford and Derby County [in the FA Cup already], so our draws in this competition have been really difficult because they have all been away from home.
I think when you have not had the best run of results to win your last one, score goals, and feel as if you are finding that form, it is now about doing it again.
You have to go and play again and you have to show it again. Unfortunately, we have got a couple of injuries [from Forest] and Danny Ings can’t play in this game as well, so it just alters us and makes us change things again.
I think the biggest difference against Nottingham Forest was that we finished our opportunities.
We went a long period in the game where we hadn’t scored, and it looked as if it was going to be quite similar to our previous games where we couldn’t get the final finish or a goal after a lot of good play.
But in the end we got one, and then the biggest thing was scoring the second one really quickly afterwards which settled us down and helped us.
I think the players showed [what they are capable of in the last game].
All of them played really well and we had a really good team performance and I actually think recently we have been doing okay. It was a disappointing result against Tottenham but apart from that we have been on a run, which has given us a few draws and a win.
Hopefully this win over Forest will keep that going. We need to keep pushing on and climb the league table, but we have got an away game in the Cup, and then an away game in the UEFA Conference League so we have got a lot to look forward to and hopefully our form can continue to improve.
I think Erik ten Haag has done a great job.
Manchester United are a side that is used to success, and I think that Manchester United are climbing the ladder back up to where they want to be.
He has to get a lot of credit for the work he is doing. I can only look from a distance and admire the good work he is doing at Manchester United.
We have to defend against so many good players in the Premier League.
[Marcus] Rashford is one of them and we played them earlier in the season and we were really unfortunate. David de Gea played really, really well to keep them in the game or could have had a positive result. It was very close in the league, and I am hoping we can give them a good game this time around.
