David Moyes is not surprised by how well Tottenham Hotspur are doing under the management of Ange Postecoglou.
West Ham United will travel to north London on Thursday evening for a second successive derby, with Sunday’s 1-1 draw with Crystal Palace extending the Hammers’ unbeaten run in all competitions to five matches.
The Irons face a tough test against a Spurs side that have made an excellent start to the 2023/24 season with Australian coach Postecoglou at the helm, but Moyes is certain his side are up for the challenge the north London side will offer.
The boss is looking for more from his squad, however, pinpointing a drive to see even more from his West Ham team heading into the festive schedule and the new year.
Moyes considered his team’s efforts so far this campaign, Thursday’s opponents, and the showings given by summer signing Mohammed Kudus since joining the Club from Ajax in his pre-match press conference…
Palace reflections
Crystal Palace was a tough game. Over the years, it’s always been a difficult game. We’ve probably not had a great record at London Stadium against them either. The draw wasn’t a great result, but not a bad result either. We had our moments at the end where we might have won it, but it was a tight game in the Premier League.
A tough Tottenham test
Right now, I think Tottenham Hotspur are as good as any side in the Premier League at the moment. It’s not going to be an easy game. It will be an incredibly tough game. We want to challenge the best teams in the league and we want to try and push ourselves in amongst the top sides.
Ange Postecoglou has done remarkably well. Tottenham are a really, really good side and he’s made a big difference to what they’re doing and how they play. He’s made a big difference to the atmosphere there too.
I’m a bit surprised really about how surprised everyone is at how well he’s doing, given how well he did at Celtic too. To manage Celtic is enormous, and there is a lot of pressure in that job, and Ange was able to cope and deal with that.
First half form
Football is a 90 minute game and you have to play well throughout the whole match. We’re well aware that we’ve not started in the second halves particularly well. That being said, I think we’re nearer the top of the league if you were only looking at the first 45 minutes of matches.
We’re doing somethings right at some stages in the game, but Tottenham will be a really hard game. We need to be hard to beat, be competitive, and when our chances come our way we’ve got some players who can bring the quality when we get those moments.
Targeting improvements
We’re only one or two points behind where we were a couple of seasons ago, and the biggest thing for me is that there is loads of room for improvement. I think we can play better and do many things a lot better, so hopefully we can try and do that going into the second half of the season.
Kudos to Kudus
Mo has started great for us. He’s had an impact with his goals and assists, and I think his all-round play has been good. It will also improve as he gets more used to the Premier League and the intensity of the games. I’ve been hugely impressed how well he’s done.
He’s probably started better than I would have anticipated. We eased him in during the first couple of games but since then we’ve found that he was scoring or making goals for us. Now he's starting and doing much of the same, and we hope that continues.
AFCON influence
I’ve worked with many African players during my career. I worked with Joseph Yobo and Yakubu at Everton, and many others, and I know the support of these players from Africa. The Premier League is global, as is the support for the league, and those fans are all keen for their own players to do well.
We’ve got Mo Kudus, and we’ve also got Saïd Benrahma from Algeria and Nayef Aguerd from Morocco. It’s great that we’re bringing West Ham to other parts of the world and getting eyes on our Club. The disappointing bit, and the thing we’ll need to manage, is losing those players for a month during the African Cup Of Nations. But that’s part of it.
