West Ham United manager David Moyes has been speaking to the media ahead of his side's trip to Goodison Park to face his former club Everton on Sunday 18 September.
Having won their last two matches against FCSB and Silkeborg IF in UEFA Europa Conference League Group B, the Hammers will now look to record their second league win of the season.
The boss spoke to journalists from the team hotel in Denmark via video call about the challenges of the Thursday-Sunday schedule and how it presses on him to rotate his squad and bed in his new signings.
Moyes also talked about Jarrod Bowen and Maxwel Cornet, and how he is looking forward to returning to a club where he spent over a decade in the dugout at on Merseyside.
I think it is really important that we try to use the players the best we can.
The boys who were in international duty this summer had a really late return. Declan [Rice] especially, we gave Declan even more time off to recover because I think last season most of our players played roughly 60 games. Our players had a really busy time.
But also, what that does is it builds a bit of resilience as far as playing goes as well. They get used to the games, the regular games, and from that point of view, we hope that it will improve Declan. But on the other side of it, we know we are always trying to look after them as well.
I would say that I am just beginning to see Jarrod getting back to it.
[There are] little bits coming back – there are signs of it. And if you think of last season, I said that after the Euros I thought Declan Rice was fantastic at the start of the season last year, whereas a lot of England players did not find their levels as much. So, it can happen.
I think the international football – maybe the little rest time they get during the summer – can play a part in that. I am just beginning to see good signs from Jarrod and hopefully, I am right.
We played well against a really good Tottenham team, and we played well against Chelsea but just could not get it over the line in the end.
Things went against us completely that day. There is not much you can do about it. From the players' point of view, I think we are gaining in confidence, we feel as if we are beginning to get the new players integrated and used to us.
So overall, we need the points. The points are always what we get judged on, but I think our performances are improving at this present time.
I think that qualifying for Europe should be seen as a great thing.
But obviously, the difficult side is playing Thursday and Sunday and it is not really a great schedule. It has always been there for as long as I can remember, with the Europa League and now with the Conference League, it is the same situation
But what I would say is that we are beginning to get well used to it now. The players are more resilient with the way they go about their work. You try to improve your squad, which means that you can chop and change your players a bit more. I am hoping that through time and experience we are getting a little bit better with it.
Last year, I felt that when we won our group in the Europa League, it gave everybody confidence; it gave everybody minutes on the pitch. You try to give your players a chance, and a lot of the players who sometimes are not maybe always first choice, get a chance to show what they can do and feel as if they are getting regular football as well.
That does help, but on the other side it is lots of games, lots of preparation, with quick turnarounds, lots of recovery sessions – but I would rather it be that way.
I think Frank Lampard is putting together a strong [Everton] side and sometimes it takes a little bit of time for all those things to work.
There is a rebuild going on. Frank is starting to put bits together. They have not had as much money to spend as they have had in maybe past seasons.
I think they have brought it some really good players Conor Coady, [James] Tarkowski – are very good Premier League players, really experienced players.
They have brought in Amadou Onana, who we liked also. I think they have brought in a lot of Premier League players; Dwight McNeil, [Neal] Maupay. I have been saying that myself, we have brought in new players, and it does take a bit of time to get it going.
In his last few games, Maxwel Cornet has got us assists and contributed.
He got us the penalty in the last game at home against FCSB. He has started to make a contribution already. I think it is probably his lateness back into pre-season, getting him back into condition.
I don’t mean he was badly out of condition; I just mean that he was more not game-ready and hadn’t had any match minutes. But I think we are still finding our way with him, we are looking at exactly where best to use him, try to fit him in.
If his goal against Chelsea had counted – which it should have done – he hit the post in that game as well, he has already shown us he is someone who can get a goal.
And, if you look at his record at Burnley, in a short time at Burnley, it was very good – and his goals for Lyon prior to that, was what helped get me thinking he would be a good player to bring to the club.
What we have always had here at West Ham has been a great team spirit, a great group of lads, who have been committed.
The boys who haven’t been involved all the time have done really well. You only need to look at last year in the Europa League how well so many of them did in the games. I think we have got much stronger competition – but it's still bringing in eight or nine players and trying to bed them in quite quickly is not an easy thing to do. I think the players we have brought in will make a big difference, it just needs a little bit of time.
But we need to try and get the points and getting the results. We have shown better signs with the performances against Tottenham and Chelsea. And the win last night, hopefully, will help with confidence.
If you look back, I have always chosen to have a smaller squad for different reasons.
It keeps your players playing regularly, it keeps a lot of them happy. But probably the biggest part of it is makes room for young players to get an opening, get on the bench, or get small chances at different times.
If you have a big squad, you need to be able to try and utilise them as much as we can. What we can do is utilise them because of these Conference League games. We have got competition – we need it if we are going to try and challenge the boys at the top again. We are going to have to get these players playing at their best and if you don’t play well then you will find yourself not in the team.
We have had a great two-and-half years or so, and this is probably as big a turnaround I feel I have had at any club in my time. Where I have had, for different reasons – people moved out, people coming in – we have had to change it around. So, this is probably the bedding in period for us, which is never easy because you are trying to find your way, find exactly what people can do.
I always look forward to going back to Everton, but I manage West Ham and my job is to go and win – and that is what I am going to try and do.
I hugely enjoy it. It was a massive part of my career. I had eleven and a half years at Everton as manager – and if you say that nowadays very few managers will get to that stage at any one club. I have only got thanks and good feelings for Everton for what they have done for me and my family.
