David Moyes demands ice-cold performance from his West Ham side

David Moyes demands ice-cold performance from his West Ham side and says they must ‘challenge for the ball, run hard and be competitive’ in their Europa Conference League quarter-final first leg against Gent

  • The Hammers are looking to take one step closer to their first trophy since 1980
  • They lost in the semi-finals of the Europa League last season with Moyes sent off
  • Defender Vladimir Coufal also urged his side to do all they can to win a trophy

David Moyes says now is not the time for ‘vanilla’ players as West Ham look to edge deeper into Europe, though the manager has warned against another away day meltdown.

The east Londoners lost to Eintracht Frankfurt in the Europa League semi-finals last season when Aaron Cresswell and Moyes were sent off, and Declan Rice accused the match officials of corruption.

On Thursday they face Gent in the first leg of the Europa Conference League quarter-finals and it will be a family affair for Moyes. His daughter Lauren, son David Jnr, father David Snr and brother Kenny will be among the fans at the Ghelamco Arena as the Hammers aim to move closer to a first trophy since 1980. 

Reflecting on that German collapse last year, Moyes said: ‘We’ve got to make sure we are better disciplined and calmer. But we still want the players to be emotional. We want them to understand what it means.

‘We want them to be motivated and eager to impress. We don’t want vanilla players who are going to go around and not tackle, challenge, run hard and be competitive.

West Ham manager David Moyes has warned his players against another collapse in Europe

Moyes’ side face Gent in the first leg of the Europa Conference League on Thursday evening

‘You need players who are going to do all those things. We have to learn where we can draw the line and sometimes your judgment of officials has got to be taken as you see the game going on.’

West Ham may be battling relegation from the Premier League, but Europe is where they can make this a season to remember.

Moyes added: ‘We’ve got this game but we’ve also got the game at the London Stadium and we’ll have 62,500 there. It’ll be sold out, I have no doubt about that.

‘We had some brilliant games last year. Hopefully we have a few more to come.’ Vladimir Coufal says West Ham need to embrace the occasion because they are not at a club that necessarily expects to claim silverware. 

Hammers full-back Vladimir Coufal insisted he will do all he can to win a trophy at West Ham

‘Not everyone is good enough to play for Manchester City, Liverpool or a team like this to win trophies,’ the full back said. ‘When I was in the Czech Republic, I won a lot of trophies. I won the domestic league three times and the Czech Cup.

‘Maybe I am not good enough to play for the big teams, but I am good enough to play for West Ham and I am doing everything I can to lift a trophy here.

‘For me it would be the best trophy I could win, for sure.

‘A trophy is something special. You can finish sixth or seventh in the Premier League and it’s a big success for West Ham, but to lift a trophy means something else, something extra.’

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