West Ham United manager Slaven Bilic was pleased to see Mark Noble get on the scoresheet during the 3-3 draw with Peterborough and hopes all the midfielders will get among the goals this season.
Bilic was managing his first game in England and was pleased to see a number of first-team regulars get some crucial match time following their return from a fitness camp in Ireland.
Noble got West Ham back in the game with a clinical finish before Diafra Sakho continued his impressive start to the pre-season campaign with another goal.
New signing Martin Samuelsen also scored his first goal for the club and Bilic is now wanting to see all his midfielders add to their tally and take the pressure off the forwards.
Bilic said: “It is always good to see the strikers get among the goals. It is good for their confidence to keep scoring goals and we have to add more goals from midfield than we scored last year.
“That was missing and we cannot just rely on strikers. It is very important that people like Mark, Pedro, Kevin score their share of goals.
“It was good for the first game. We didn't want to give the guys from the first-team more than 60 minutes. But we did okay and it was good training.
“We were playing against good opponents on a good pitch in front of a good crowd. We played some really good football, but we conceded three goals and a sloppy penalty.
“But we were able to play some of the younger guys who didn't make the squad for the Europa League game in Andorra and it was good for everybody.”
Bilic had special praise for talented youngster Samuelsen who capped an impressive debut with a well taken goal and hopes he can fulfil his potential following his summer move from Manchester City.
Bilic added: “Martin was lively and is a very talented player. You can see that he has quick feet and a quick way to control the ball which is very important. He can be very useful.”
The West Ham United manager made a number of changes during the second half and switched Aaron Cresswell into an unfamiliar central midfield position, but he was pleased to see the Hammer of the Year show his versatility.
“Aaron is a good player and has a great left foot. I wanted a player who could play for 90 minutes and he is a naturally fit player.
“It is always good for a defender who is good on the ball to play a little bit in midfield because you have less space there and it was good for him.”