Near Perfect Preseason for West Ham

With a 1-0 win over Angers SCO, West Ham United wrap up a near perfect preseason. Manuel Pellegrini’s preseason tour consisted of six games spread across Austria and England, and the Hammers finished their warm-up games with a record of 5-1-1.

West Ham’s first game and only loss of the preseason came at the hands of FC Winterthur, a tier 2 Swiss team. The side were without a solid portion of their first-team selections as youngsters Reece Oxford, Conor Coventry, Nathan Holland, Edmilison Fernandes and Sead Haksabanovic started. Nathan Trott, Josh Cullen, Martin Samuelsen, Marcus Browne and Jordan Hugill all featured in the second half as well.

Despite the opening match hiccup West Ham improved their form as their first team players returned from extended holidays or World Cup trips. The Hammers would go unbeaten in their remaining six matches, which featured only one draw against Preston North End.

In that impressive stretch of wins, the Hammers defeated Wycombe 1-0, Aston Villa 3-1, Ipswitch 2-1, FSV Mainz 1-1 (7-6 on penalties), and Angers SCO 1-0.

It was easy to see that Marko Arnautovic was the main man in the attack for West Ham. He scored five goals in six matches and may be the most inform player coming into the 2018/19 Premier League season.

Squad Building

Outside of Arnautovic, a few peripheral players made claims for extended stays in East London most notably Robert Snodgrass. The Scotish international spent last season on loan at Aston Villa where he almost secured promotion, netting eight goals and fourteen assists. Despite being played out of position and getting slagged off by the owners Snodgrass has returned with a positive attitude and looked great in preseason, scoring a goal against Villa, and assisting Toni Martinez against Mainz.

Snodgrass looks to have cemented himself in under Pellegrini at West Ham for this season, and the same may be said for Toni Martinez. Martinez spent the second half of last season at Real Valladolid helping them achieve promotion to the top flight of Spanish football. Despite his struggles at West Ham in the past, he could stick around Pellegrini’s squad simply because he is a striker who won’t cost any money.

Outside of Snodgrass and Martinez, Michail Antonio also looked solid in his preseason games. He has been linked away from West Ham with Crystal Palace snooping about, however, Pellegrini was determined to keep the forward, at least until the January transfer window. With injury issues an everpresent concern, Antonio took extra time to get ready but showed his raw talent and ability taking on half of the Aston Villa squad and netted a highlight reel goal.

Great run and finish from @Michailantonio! 🙌 pic.twitter.com/CQmHIyV4qy
— West Ham United (@WestHam) July 26, 2018

World Cup Hangover?

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West Ham’s World Cup attendees returned and hit the ground running. Newcomer Lukasz Fabianski started in goal for two games for West Ham recording two wins conceding just one goal against. The battle for the net with Adrian looks to be heating up but both keepers in top form.

Javier “Chicharito” Hernandez returned after Mexico’s dream run in the World Cup was cut short. With questions emerging about Chicharito’s future with West Ham, the appointment of Manuel Pellegrini seems to have pushed these aside. With only one game played (the final preseason match), Chicharito bagged the only and winning goal for West Ham. He’s back, and he’s firing on all cylinders it would appear.

The job of organizing new players into an existing squad that playing in an unacceptable manner the year prior is no small task. Fortunately, the experienced manager West Ham appointed, Manuel Pellegrini, in the wake of David Moyes and Slaven Bilic has done so well. Preseason was a solid test of players acclimating to new teammates, managers and coaches, and opposition. Pellegrini understands the process of preseason conditioning and stated he believes that the progress that has been made so far is promising.

"“We worked and changed to a different system against Angers and the players adapted without any problem, so I am happy with the pre-season. The players are happy, so it was a good pre-season.”"

So:
New manager appointed: check.
New players in – check.
Old squad straightened out after last season – check.
Youngsters were given an extended look by the new manager – check
Game by game improvement – check.

Apart from an early loss and draw, West Ham managed to implement a new manager, new players and a new culture in an incredibly short time. It was just preseason, but West Ham looks rejuvenated. Their successful preseason tour has instilled a new mentality in the team and hopes are high. Let’s hope the next level is the next stop on West Ham’s trajectory.