Moyes sympathetic as Conte misses derby

David Moyes spoke of the difficulty of managing while absent from the touchline ahead of West Ham’s trip to face Tottenham, who will be without their boss Antonio Conte on Sunday.

Conte revealed on Thursday he will not return to work until he is fully recovered from his recent gallbladder surgery, and has remained in Italy to recuperate.

In September 2020, Moyes was absent from the West Ham dugout for four matches when he contracted Covid-19, and expressed his sympathy for his opposite number’s situation.

“It’s really difficult,” the Hammers manager said.

“If you’re a manager, the one place you want to be is on the touchline and with the team, you always feel it’s very difficult to have an effect and you feel really responsible.

“During Covid it was really hard watching the games from the flat I was in and trying to watch it and send some messages at half-time and leaving people to it.

“But it also taught me another bit, about having to sit back and take the emotion out of it – I’ve tried to learn a little bit from Covid.

“So I’m sure Antonio (Conte) won’t want to be at home, but obviously his health is the most important thing and we wish him well.

“It’s important for Antonio that he looks after himself.

“He would be a miss for any team, but they’ve got a really good group of players and I’m sure they’ll do a job.”

West Ham have been struggling at the wrong end of the Premier League this season, but have started to turn things around after a three-game unbeaten run.

A significant win over fellow relegation battlers Everton was followed by back-to-back draws, at high-flying Newcastle and last Saturday at home to Chelsea.

Moyes expects a difficult match when the London rivals meet at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, and urged his side to be positive going into the game.

“I don’t think there ever is a good time to play Tottenham because they’ve got a host of good players, a really good team,” he said.

“I couldn’t put it down to any good time, but obviously this is the time we’ve got the game and we have time to play them.

“We’ll try and go into the game really positive, we will try and show the form we have been finding a little bit more at the moment, so if we can do that it will be a good game.”