Good morning everyone,
As you can imagine, the mood at the training ground this week has been very positive following our magnificent win at Southampton and we go into today’s encounter against West Brom at London Stadium high in confidence.
The match also gives us an opportunity to get even with our opponents after we were beaten at their ground back in September, when we were 4-0 down but then came close to making a memorable comeback.
It was a very, very strange game. When they scored their fourth goal, I remember thinking: ‘this is unbelievable’.
But then, especially in the second half, we started to play. It sounds silly, and I didn’t say these words at the time because you can’t when you have just lost 4-2, but we actually played well.
The majority of the game was played in front of their box, we created chances, and we came back to 4-2 with still 25 minutes to go.
But going 4-0 down like that was a bad moment for us, and we have to think about that when we face them today – not in a negative way, but in terms of what we must do to ensure something similar doesn’t happen again.
If you lose the balls in areas where you shouldn’t lose them against West Brom, they can be lethal.
A lot of people say that they have a very predictable and one-dimensional style of play but personally I don’t agree with that.
To me, they are a very versatile side. Of course, they are at their best when they sit back, soak up the pressure with numbers behind the ball and then counter-attack.
But at times I have seen them press as a whole team in the opposition half, 10 minutes into the game, and stay there for a couple of minutes, increasing the pressure.
They are very physical, they keep putting the balls in, they can be dangerous from set-pieces, and they have Salomon Rondon, who can hurt you by himself. They are a very good team, and the job that Tony Pulis has done is amazing.
September was a bad month for us. We'd had a short pre-season, some players had been away at the Euros and returned late, and also a number of injuries. That day against West Brom, we made some individual mistakes, and some team mistakes, but it wasn’t because of a lack of preparation.
Yes, we are a different team now, because we have players who are fit and back. That is the key and why we have managed to climb into the top half of the table recently.
It doesn’t happen overnight to come back to that level, and it took us more or less a couple of months to find it. We have to maintain that now, work hard, stay clear of injuries and continue to improve.
If you are travelling to London Stadium this afternoon, enjoy the game and I hope we can give every West Ham fan another happy weekend.
Slaven