West Ham United U21s fell to a 2-1 defeat against AS Monaco in the Premier League International Cup on Friday, but lead coach Mark Robson said there were positives to take from his side's attitude and performance.
The Irons were hunting a sixth victory in seven matches in all competitions at the Chigwell Construction Stadium, and went ahead when Daniel Chesters smashed the ball into the bottom corner inside the opening 60 seconds.
But Monaco battled back and Malamine Efekele’s quickfire brace had Monaco ahead after 12 minutes.
The young Hammers fought valiantly for an equaliser in the second half, despite knowing that qualification to the knockout stages were beyond them, but the visitors stood strong and claimed all three points.
Despite defeat, Robson suggested that there were several positives to take ahead of the U21s return to Premier League 2 action next week, with a home fixture against Fulham on 10 February next up.
Even though we lost we’re really pleased with the lads. There are lots of positives that we can take from tonight.
It was the perfect start for us with Dan scoring right from kick off and we were especially pleased because the goal was something that we had actually rehearsed in training. Obviously, we are disappointed to lose the match, as we are to lose any game, but we did a lot of things well tonight.
We had some younger boys involved tonight, a few of them are U16s, so it was fantastic for those boys to get their debuts. Jacob Knightbridge has spent a lot of time with us but it was his first proper game for us tonight and we had Jamal Baptsite back tonight as well. Despite the defeat there are lots of things for me to be pleased about.
We didn’t hurt them or create as much as I would have liked but overall, I think that they boys worked hard and showed a positive mindset.
The boys showed a lot of character after falling 2-1 behind.
We have had a couple of games this season where we lost our way after falling behind. Sometimes when you have a younger team and things don’t go your way it can be tough. It could have gone that way again tonight but we picked ourselves up and we kept going. We continued to try to play aggressively and on the front foot
We wanted to take the match to them no matter what the scoreline was. Unfortunately, we didn’t quite have enough quality on the night to get a result but I cannot fault the effort and character of my players.
After a difficult start to the season, things are definitely picking up
We have Dan Chesters and Armstrong Okoflex back from their loans and some of the younger boys are doing really well so we have a lot of options right now. There is a lot of competition for places and I haven’t been able to say that for a while.
The young boys are pushing the older lads now so it’s a healthy environment to be in. We will go into our next match against Fulham and we will aim to play our best and win the match. We want to put a run of results together that will push us up the league.
The U18s have reached the FA Youth Cup quarter finals and they deserve a lot of credit.
It’s a fantastic achievement and obviously several of those players are normally a part of our squad. To win 4-1 away from home at this stage of the competition is fantastic. They face Ipswich in the next round which will be a tough game but they are a fantastic group and we wish them all the best.
It was fantastic to see two U21 players involved against Derby in the FA Cup
Our main aim is to give players a pathway to progress from the U18s to the U21s and then into the first team. It was fantastic to see Divin Mubama get some more minutes and also Levi Laing was on the bench.
I’m personally really proud and I am also pleased for them. Moments like that are fantastic for the entire Academy. It gives the younger players the belief and hunger to be like Divin and play for the first team. Hopefully we can continue to provide that pathway for other players now.
