The significance of finishing top of Group A in the UEFA Europa League is not lost on manager David Moyes.
A 2-0 win over SC Freiburg on Thursday evening, secured thanks to well-taken first half goals from Mohammed Kudus and Edson Álvarez, means the Irons claimed 15 points from six matches played in the group phase.
As as result, the Hammers secured first place in Group A, putting them directly through to the round of 16 next March at Freiburg’s expense, avoiding a pair of knockout round play-off matches against opposition dropping down from the Champions League in February.
Moyes was thrilled to claim the win with an improved performance, earned through two expertly-taken finishes and a clean sheet.
There were plenty of reasons for the boss to be delighted, citing his happiness at the collective effort of the team, ten home European wins in a row, and more European football to look forward to in 2024
Topping a European group three years in a row is quite an achievement.
We only lost one game in this group, away to Olympiacos, and that’s also the only game we’ve lost in Europe in quite a few [21] matches. It’s been a brilliant record and a great run, and hopefully it will give us a day off somewhere in February too, which is huge because of the games we have at the moment.
It was a much more positive game for us tonight.
We did a lot of good things and could have scored more goals. We also kept a clean sheet and I thought Konstantinos Mavropanos and Nayef Aguerd did well. Freiburg are a big side, knock balls up from the back and they dealt with that well.
We played well tonight, had control of the game and scored two good footballing goals in the first half. We also missed a couple of chances in the second half so hopefully we’re keeping them for Sunday’s match versus Wolverhampton Wanderers!
We were always through [to the knockout stages] before this game and I said before the match that I would taken that beforehand, all day long.
But to win the group tops it too. I looked at the teams we could have played in the play-off round, that have dropped from the Champions League, and there were some tough teams in there, so I’m very happy we’re through and can look forward to March.
We’ve not been a recognised European club for a long time and we’re hopefully getting a bit more recognised.
We won the UEFA Europa Conference League last year and got to the Europa League semi-final the year before. With a bit of luck, we might just find we’re quite good at these European tournaments. We need big atmospheres to give us every chance of getting results.
I think Edson Álvarez is getting used to it here.
He’s getting used to the intensity and these regular games and, to be fair to him, he had a bit of illness as well. We’re getting him back and he scored a good goal. It was a really good combination between him and Jarrod Bowen to get the goal. He made the pass to get Mohammed Kudus in too.
