Kevin Nolan hailed a ‘fantastic end to a fantastic week’ as West Ham United signed off their five-day pre-season trip to the Alps with a 2-0 victory over Swiss Super League side Servette.
The Hammers worked hard to raise their fitness levels in the French town of Evian-les-Bains throughout the week, training two and sometimes three times each day under the eye of manager David Moyes and his staff, including first-team coach Nolan.
With the Irons’ international stars returning to full training on Monday at Rush Green after their summer breaks, the travelling squad comprised a combination of experienced seniors and ten Academy of Football prospects, all of whom did themselves credit according to Nolan.
Two of them, defender Aji Alese and forward Divin Mubama, scored the goals that defeated Servette in a keenly-contested game that saw the West Ham create plenty of chances and their opponents hit the woodwork on three occasions.
Speaking to West Ham TV, Nolan said the Hammers were pleased with what they have got out of their trip to the mountains.
It’s a fantastic end to what’s been a fantastic week.
The Gaffer has put the lads through their paces and the lads have worked really hard this week in what’s been a fantastic location, and it was good to finish it off with a 2-0 win.
They did hit the bar and hit the post and we got away with it a couple of times with the chances they created, but you’ve got to have a little but of luck and it’s a fantastic end to the week, which is really great for us.
I think the good thing about it is that the manager wants to start breeding that winning mentality and that started today. He will say pre-season is about fitness, but as soon as the games start he wants that competition, to win games, keep clean sheets and do everything right and this week has gone really well and he’s delighted. Touch wood, there are no injuries to the lads and we can go again on Monday.”
The Gaffer gave me a great opportunity to come back and be part of this and to be part of this fantastic Club is great and I can only thank him for that and the owners for the opportunity to keep progressing in what is now the next stage of my career.
I’m really enjoying my time and trying to keep and get a few pounds off as well! I’m there just to keep supporting the lads and keep building on what we’ve done over the last two-and-a-half years.
It’s a great coaching staff to be part of, I must admit. Nev (Paul Nevin) and me came in on the same first day, so we’ve got that bit of a bond. He’s been in it for 25 years and then there’s the Gaffer who is the manager and what he says goes and we all stick around him and rally around him for whatever he needs us for.
We’ve got a great camaraderie going among the staff as well and we’re all there to support the manager. He’s been brilliant for us over the last two-and-a-half years and hopefully we can continue that and continue to progress with the team because it’s been an absolute whirlwind.
The young Academy players who joined us at this training camp have been a real credit to themselves and credit must go to Ricky [Martin], Robbo (Mark Robson), Dmitri [Halajko] who was there before them and Pottsy (Steve Potts) who is there behind them because they got them in early and made sure that they were ready.
To be fair to the boys, they’ve got the bit between their teeth and this Gaffer has given them opportunities and will hopefully give them more opportunities and hopefully they’ll repay him back by giving him performances because I know what it’s like.
It’s cut-throat and you can find yourself moved on or back with the 23s, so they’ve done really well to keep up with the lads. They’ve been a credit to themselves and a credit to the Academy.”
Once we get back in on Monday and the whole group are back together again and we get to start pushing them, we’ve got another couple of games next week which will be a tester for those lads.
Look, it’s nice and the Gaffer is working hard with the owners to add to that group which is really good so, for us, what we’ve got to do is keep working and keep producing what the Gaffer wants us to do and working those boys really hard.