David Moyes gave one of his 'vague' pressers at Hammers Goose green training ground ahead of tomorrow's fifth round FA Cup tie away to Southampton, the gist of what he was saying is that he wants the club to be near to the top of the Premier League as possible because those near the top invariably win.
"We've been involved in the quarter-finals of the Carabao Cup, got to a good stage of the FA Cup, and we're involved in Europe. The Club's doing a really good job. We want to be more around the Cup Competitions, but even through history, it's been the top teams who have tended to win the competitions, so we have to try and get ourselves in a position where we've got more of a chance of reaching semi-finals and finals and hopefully winning them as well."
The manager then addressed his thoughts on the impending game against the Saints. "I think Southampton's form recently has been very good. The Premier League at different times of the season does that. We've had interesting games against them over the years. They came out on top last time, so we know it's going to be a really difficult game. A good run of form keeps you in there all the time. They're recovered from a difficult start and I think they're doing very well at the moment."
Last season Souhampton were on fire at the beginning, but fell away atrociously towards the end of it, sounds familiar? Hammers fall from grace has not been as acute as that of the South coast club's, but a poor run of form, injuries and of course 'Kittygate', all conspired to derail what promised to be an astonishing season.
Those elements and the 'phantom of the transfers' almost sucked the life out of the indomitable spirit Moyes had engendered in his squad, Sunday's vital victory over Wolves might have been a bit scrappy, but no one cares about the style when the points are added up at the end of the season!
We expect David Moyes to 'go strong' with his team selection for Wednesday's game, it may mean sacrificing players ahead of the Liverpool game, but realistically it is highly unlikely that the game will be anything other than a dead rubber. Mind you, whoever gets to play at Anfield will be able to do so knowing that ALL they have to do is give it a REAL GO, fans can forget a poor result, but tend not to forgive a lack of effort. - Ed
