After less than a month for the West Ham squad to gel together, games in the Premier League are coming fast after West Ham’s 5-1 drubbing at the hands of Liverpool on Wednesday night in the Carabao Cup. This weekend The Irons travel locally for another in the series of PL London derby games, and Head Coach Julen Lopetegui must be hoping that the work on the training pitch will start to yield results soon.
The mood music coming from the club’s official web site whufc.com very much confirms that the squad is still learning how to play as a cohesive unit, having spent such a short time as one team. Typical of this is Carlos Soler who arrived 27 days ago, on deadline day, and is having to learn fast how to adapt to Premier League – level competitions, travel and to be ready to compete for his new club.
Speaking to the club web site, Soler speaks of the Liverpool result, the fans and the future:
“We didn’t deserve this result, so we have to put our focus on good things. I think we did very good things, but we have to change a lot of things too. I’ve been here for less than one month with my teammates and I’m happy to be here. I think we train well, we do good things and we are going to improve. I trust this team for sure”
“I’m here to help my teammates, to help the Club to be better, and that’s what I want. I always want the best for me and for the Club. I want to help, and now I’m a West Ham player, so I’m really happy with this.”
“For me, the West Ham fans were incredible here at Anfield,” he observed.
“I think just below 6,000 people came here [to Anfield] tonight to support us, and after the match they showed respect for us because they know that we have done a good job. It’s difficult to say that with a 5-1 defeat, but we are going to give our all to them.”
Soler certainly showed some good attacking moments, troubling the Liverpool keeper a couple of times: We hope he can match his performances on the pitch with the battling determination exhibited in his words. Unlike his red-carded team-mate Alvarez, Soler managed to keep his exuberance in check – just – and stay on the pitch throughout the game.