West Ham United released a ‘behind the scenes’ training video yesterday, showing the players who didn’t get called up for international duty being put through their paces.
The first three-month period of the season is always a challenging one for club football fans, and it’s no different for West Ham.
West Ham chief Julen Lopetegui oversaw a hugely important win against Ipswich Town last weekend, but he now has to wait until October 19th before our next game.
It’s far from ideal is it. That said, the West Ham head coach will definitely be working hard on getting his players in tune tactically on the training ground.
Before the Ipswich game, there was even talk of Lopetegui getting the sack if results didn’t improve quickly, but he apparently assured the board that he will turn things around.
And after the three points against Ipswich, things are looking up for the Hammers.
The players looked to be in good spirits during training yesterday, but there were a few notable absentees.
Key players missing from West Ham training video
We have many players currently away on international duty with their respective nations, including the likes of Mohammed Kudus, Tomas Soucek, Lucas Paqueta and Dinos Mavropanos.
However, there are plenty of high profile players who were omitted from their national team squads.
That’s not necessarily a bad thing – having some of our big names remain at the club will keep them fresh ahead of a really challenging run of games.
Jarrod Bowen and Aaron Wan-Bissaka are two players who were desperately unlucky not to get the call from Lee Carsley as far as I’m concerned.
Meanwhile, Niclas Fullkrug obviously missed out on the Germany squad due to his injury.
All three were missing from the behind the scenes training video, posted on the Hammers’ official YouTube account.
In all fairness, I think it’s a good thing that Bowen and Wan-Bissaka weren’t present during the training session at Rush Green.
Bowen, signed for £22 million from Hull City in January 2020 is our club captain, and the most important player we have.
So the fact that he was given a rest from training yesterday is a really good thing in my opinion. It will mean that he’s fully fit and raring to go when Premier League action resumes.
The same can be said for Wan-Bissaka – a £15 million signing from Manchester United in the summer.
However, it is a shame that Fullkrug was nowhere to be seen. It’s just a really frustrating situation right now regarding the German.
When he picked up his injury on international duty this time last month, it was suggested that it wasn’t serious, and that he’d be back playing within a week or two.
Well, now we’re four weeks down the line and he’s still nowhere to be seen. I’m extremely concerned about Fullkrug.
The Hammers fans are all desperate to see the 31-year-old start consistently for us and for him to start scoring regularly.
However, it now seems like it will be a while before he’s even ready to train, let alone play.
I love the fact that we didn’t see Bowen or Wan-Bissaka in the behind the scenes West Ham training video, but Fullkrug’s absence was a big worry.
Related Topics