Every word from Erik ten Hag pre West Ham FA Cup press conference part one 28 Feb 2023

The team that started on Sunday obviously started, but the ones who didn’t, people like Maguire and Lindelof, are they going to be important in periods like this? Because clearly there was a lot of energy expended against Barcelona, against Newcastle, but this is a big game as well and you do want to keep the momentum going…
“Let’s make myself clear, we didn’t win with 11 players, we did win with a squad, and I think the squad is already, the whole season, so important. Every time players are coming in [to play], if it’s for the whole game, for minutes or a couple of games, I think also during games we can change the dynamics. We do it with many more than 11 players, so I count on them, and I know they will be ready because every time players play games, they take responsibility and it’s about that. Take responsibility, but also you have to fight for your position. We have great months ahead of us, also great games and I think everyone wants to play games. The players who form the best teams will play. Also, for Maguire, when he plays well, he can come into the team.”

It does feel like Maguire, because he’s an England international and the captain of the team, people like myself focus on him, but it does seem as though he was part of the celebration and it feels as though there’s a collective spirit within the group rather than just individuals looking at it and thinking: ‘I’m not playing, I’m not happy’…
“It was not my perspective from the celebrations, I think everyone was involved and everyone was happy. Everyone had the idea, we did it collectively and not individual or one, two, three players did this. It was the performance of the whole team, of the whole squad.”