West Ham get draw with Preston, but signs are promising
West Ham were held to a 2-2 draw by Preston, which isn’t the most encouraging result. However the are some promising signs for Pellegrini.
With pre-season matches it’s fair more about what you get out of them than the result. West Ham are yet to pick up a win this summer, but there’s definitely more to come. But that doesn’t mean there’s not things to work on for the Hammers and their new manager.
Thankfully this isn’t a slamming of the 90 minutes. Some pre-seasons we’ve been in such bad shape we’ve shown no promise at all. Nothing going forward and disorganisation at the back. There’s definitely something to work with here.
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The Bad
Obviously we’re only a few matches in, but we will need time for some of the newer players to settle. Wilshere looked rusty during the game, but put a decent shift in the middle. Diop has a long way to go to prove he is worth the 20m we paid, and he did play well when he was getting instruction from a more experienced partner. However there has to be more.
In going forward it looked better, but there was one downside. Robert Snodgrass, who has been kept at the club by Pellegrini, was a bit of a disappointment. He lacked any penetration and did not really link with anyone. Unless he shows a massive improvement in games to come I will be surprised to see him stay in East London.
Mark Noble missing a penalty isn’t exactly great, but not the end of the world. People make mistakes, and a missed penalty in pre-season isn’t going to hurt anyone.
The Good
Marko Arnautovic is still a top player, and loves scoring goals. His two goals against Preston showed that he loves playing central, and can score well with both feet. His upper body strength was on show against Wycombe, and here we saw a run in behind the defence for a first goal and a beautiful turn and hooked shot for the second.
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With goals still to return to the team in the form of Chicharito, and the new players still looking to embed themselves in, this really should be a promising year for the Hammers. Yarmolenko already seems to be connecting with Arnie, in only his second game for us. Can the Hammers take these positives and form a win next time out?