Big Sam on: Millwall

Sam Allardyce's spoke to the assembled press ahead on Thursday ahead of Saturday's visit of Millwall.

The West Ham United manager was asked to summarise how he thought the transfer window had gone for the Hammers and also how he plans to slot his three newest signings into his squad.

How pleased were you with the business you did on deadline day?

SA: I was really pleased. It was a difficult day made more difficult by our result at the end of the evening. The last day was very fruitful and was a product of the long hard work we did when the window opened and the continued negotiations through most of the January window apart from Revel Morrison who came up and was moved on pretty quickly when we thought he might join us. We were pleased and glad to recruit three new talented players.

Are you confident Nicky Maynard can continue his goalscoring form at the top of the table?

SA: I know both he and Ricardo Vaz Te are very excited about their moves and we want them to carry on where they left off with their former clubs and that's scoring goals. With no disrespect to Bristol and Barnsley we feel that they we can create them more goalscoring options and they should be in the position to score more goals hopefully. We have been short of scoring goals but we haven't been short of creating chances so hopefully these two lads can help us in that department and get more points on this board.

Is Nicky Maynard Premier League quality?

SA: We won't know that until we all get there. He's never played there but the indicators are good. Vaz has already played in the Premier League while he was with me at Bolton so he knows what it's all about and then hopefully Ravel can prove his talent at first-team level at some stage. The squad is good and healthy now and there's plenty of selection options for me and that'll be proven between now and the 28 April.

What has helped the dramatic improvement in Ricardo Vaz Te?

SA: Maturity. That talented player I managed in my time at Bolton has cast off and gone through the ringer. He's been in the wilderness in Greece and into Scotland and come back to where the best football is played- England. It's been decided within himself that he must make the best of his talents. He's at a good age and he's seen an awful lot of ups and downs in his career. Keith Hill has mentored him very well at Barnsley and he scored a lot of goals for them in all competitions and we got a really good price because he is in the last months of his contracts as we have done with Nicky.

I just think he's grown up and matured and he's in a position where it all looked so easy for him in the early years because he was so talented. He just thought it was going to arrive for him and unfortunately it didn't. The real problem is that he was going to get there but then he had a knee injury that lingered on and then he had a change of manager when I left and the previous manager didn't fancy him as much as I did.

Ravel Morrison is a great talent. Is it going to be a challenge for you to manage him?

SA: When I get to know him and the other players get to know him we'll find out in the next few weeks or so. Ravel is a player for the near future. He isn't for right now but at this stage he's got a lack of first-team football on a regular basis. We will try to asses that and see if we can use that ability and see if we can use it sooner rather than later. That's what we want to try to do for him and him for us. That'll be an interesting job over the coming weeks and months and bring out that talent on a regular basis.

You've managed lively characters - can you bring out the best out of them on the pitch?

SA: It would appear he is from what Sir Alex has told me. He said the best thing is for him to get away from Manchester and the places that have been causing him one or two problems. That'll be the case and we can benefit from that. Hopefully we can guide him to be a good human being as well as being a good professional.

After the defeat at Ipswich why didn't you sign a defender?

SA: Because we've got the best defence in the league and I think Ipswich Town was the first time that our defensive deficiencies have been exposed. We had a really off day and they exploited it to the highest level they possibly could. Other than that our defensive record has been the basis of our success this season and it was a bad day for all concerned. Let's get over it and let's show everybody why we're top at our big derby game on Saturday morning at Upton Park.

Are you looking forward to the game?

SA: Casting our mind back to the last game it all went very well on and off the field, apart from at the end when we didn't convert one of our chances and it ended in a 0-0 draw. The game panned out as I thought it would. Millwall were using the atmosphere and the players were giving 100 per cent like ours were. When the game died down a bit we started to exploit some of the spaces but we couldn't find the goal we were looking for. I think it will be the same on Saturday.

Do you have any message to any supporters coming to the game on Saturday?

SA: Just do the same as last time. I wasn't told of any incident in the last game and it was superbly planned and policed by everybody and everything went according to plan. I just hope it goes the same on Saturday. People have to be responsible for their actions including me as a manager, the players on the pitch and the supporters who come to watch the game. It will be live on TV and we'll be portraying our football to people around the globe and we want to put on a good show and a good spectacle for the right reasons.