For West Ham United manager David Moyes, the result was all-important against Olympiacos on Thursday night.
Following a 2-1 loss to the same opponents in Pireaus a fortnight ago – one which ended our English-record 17-match unbeaten European run – the Irons faced a challenge to ensure they maintained top spot in UEFA Europa League Group A.
It was a challenge they passed thanks to Lucas Paquetá’s 73rd minute volley, which settled a tight contest against a resolute Olympiacos side, who proved a tough nut to crack.
While Moyes conceded that he would have liked to have seen more from his side in attack he was delighted with the final 1-0 scoreline, which keeps the east Londoners on track for the Europa League knockout rounds.
It was a big win.
We were a bit gritty, we could have done some things better, but overall winning the games in Europe is really important.
Tonight was a tough opponent, it really was, and it proved that way at Olympiacos and it was again tonight.
We’re back on track with a victory after going 17 unbeaten prior to the last game at Olympiacos.
We could have nearly got an equaliser there. It was 2-1 there and tonight we’ve won 1-0 and it was close, but I thought we were the better team.
I thought we made the better chances, they only had one right at the end really. Our goalkeeper didn’t have many saves to make, so I thought overall we got our deserved result.
We didn’t play brilliantly well, but we played well enough to just about ease it.
I want more, I want it to be better.
I want us to be more creative. I think we put out a really attacking team tonight which gave us every chance of doing it, but if I was being honest I don’t think we made enough chances or opportunities and I need to look to see why that was the case.
But, hey, if you win 1-0 it’s always a good result.
We had a great support tonight, over 50,000 of our fans.
It’s a great crowd for a group stage game. Look, we’ve had some great nights here – Seville will always be in my memory and that for me is the benchmark. We want to have more nights like that.
