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Mark Warburton spoke to the press after West Ham were knocked out of the Carabao Cup to Championship team Blackburn Rovers
Transcript from West Ham Media & Football London
“On Sunday, we had a good attacking position in the 92nd minute, which we don’t capitalise on, and 30 seconds later the ball’s in the back of our net and we have to recognise that.”
“Of course it was mentioned, of course it was looked at and studied, but again tonight from a good attacking area, we let ourselves down, don’t defend our goal properly, allow a dangerous player back onto his stronger side and we paid the price for it.”
Disappointment
“As a team we did enough to move into the next round, so we’re disappointed that we haven’t. It’s the final bit of quality in the final third, we lacked it, we went to the lottery of penalties and paid the price.”
“The margins are so fine at this level, at Premier League level especially.”
“That chance that just goes wide at the far post, or in at the post, that’s what we’re talking about here.”
Glimpses
“I think we’ve seen lots of good periods of football. You look at the second half against Liverpool for example, you look at Man United, I thought that was a superb away display and we came away with nothing.”
“That’s more than frustrating. The players worked so hard, showed their quality and deserved something from both games.”
“We look at the season thus far and say we’ve dropped points that in truth we should really have gained to put us in a stronger position. We’re disappointed tonight, of course, and now we go into the weekend, which we know is an important game, and there’s more than enough quality in the squad to show what we’re capable of.”
“Tonight we’re disappointed for many reasons – and disappointed for the fans who turned out in good numbers again.”
“Wednesday night here, road problems, everything else, the fans gave great support tonight. We know what it means to the fans to lose a cup game, so please don’t think that was taken lightly, far from it.”
Focus On Leicester
“The focus now goes onto the weekend, and we know if you win two or three games in the Premier League you move quickly from 15th to seventh. We have to recognise the importance of the weekend, putting on a good display.”
“So far this season the fine margins have gone against us and it’s important we make sure we rectify that.”
Winter Break
“The international breaks are always difficult, as a manager, as a player, any staff member, you want to make sure you win that last game otherwise you stew on it for the next two weeks. Now you’ve got this unusual scenario of a much more extended break, so now the next Premier League game will be on Boxing Day. “
” We know that every Premier League game is important, at the weekend of course it’s Leicester here. Going into the break, we need to meet the challenge, deliver the quality of performance that gets three points and excites our fans.”
On Moyes
Yes, he is frustrated because we know we’re at home on a Wednesday night with all of the problems with travel and everything else, we’ve had a really good crowd tonight and gave the team good support. They leave the stadium disappointed, so he feels that more than anyone.
“His experience and his knowledge of the game, he knows the impact of that undoubtedly. The team are prepared well, we had a decent squad out tonight, good names out tonight. The frustration is unless you watched a different game, in the second half we were by far the dominant team and we should have finished off the game early and got the rewards and be in the draw for the next round of the cup.”
“Of course he’s frustrated, but these are professionals, these are senior players. There’s no one more frustrated than them, we wanted to get through tonight. They’ve let themselves down, they’ve let the fans down, that’s the nature of how anyone feels at football clubs. Collectively, we are disappointed but Saturday gives us a chance to change that hopefully.”
