Niclas Füllkrug has vowed to do everything he can to improve West Ham United’s fortunes after marking his return from injury with a goal in Tuesday’s 3-1 Premier League defeat at Leicester City.
The Germany international was back in action after three months out with an Achilles problem and, while he was rightly happy to be on the pitch and to net his first goal for the Club with a later header, he was also frustrated with the way his team lost a game they dominated for long periods.
Füllkrug was one of 13 West Ham players who combined to have 31 goal attempts at King Power Stadium, but a combination of profligate finishing, solid goalkeeping, last-ditch defending and plain misfortune meant only one of them found the Leicester net.
At the other end, the Foxes turned eight attempts into three goals to condemn the visitors to a seventh defeat in 14 Premier League games this season, and the No11 says the Irons simply have to be better all over the pitch if they want results to improve.
Niclas, I assume you have lots of emotions after tonight’s game, as you must be pleased to be back and to score, but also disappointed because you are a team player?
“I’m very happy to be back, to be back with the team. It’s a very nice feeling to be around the team and to be with the players. I’m very happy that I scored the goal, but at the end, it was not that important. If you see the game, the final score was 3-1. It’s crazy how it’s possible that they got three goals and we scored only one, because we had so many chances. We have so many quality players in every position and today was a very unlucky day. But also, we have to be honest with ourselves, there were some details, some small things in the system that weren’t good enough to win a Premier League game.”
Is it the case that sometimes when things are not going well, whatever you try doesn’t work and things snowball?
“I know what you mean, but I think it’s too easy to say it like that. I think we have to improve on the small details. Sometimes the positioning was not perfect. Sometimes the focus was not perfect, because if you’re one step always too late in some situations, it’s not a snowball effect. It’s like a focus thing, and we have to improve in those situations. We have so many good players. We have so much quality in this team. But I think we have to reach much more than the place we are in in the table.”
As someone with the experience you’ve got, and you’ve obviously got leadership qualities as well and have played at the very highest level, so now you’re back and fit and you’re in that dressing room, do you see yourself as someone who can help us regain that focus?
“I have to, it’s also my job. But now I’ve played the first game, I want to stay relaxed. I want to go with the team. And I already told a lot of things to the guys, and we speak a lot about our performances, about the training, about the football we play and we want to play. The West Ham fans can believe me, we speak a lot about it. It’s also frustrating for us if we don’t win games like that, and these are opponents we have to win against. And it’s very important for us, because the league is so strong, with so many good teams. I will try my best to help in the dressing room, to help on the pitch, to get a little bit of hierarchy in this team, and to work with these guys, because from the characters, our team is so nice, so good. I love the guys, and I’m here just for four months now, and I feel very comfortable. I like to be here and we have so many qualities, so many good characters, but we have to bring it on the pitch.”
There are always a lot of things said and written when things are going badly, so do we have to shut that noise out?
“I think we have to stay relaxed. We have to concentrate. We have to be focused on our confidence because we have to build our confidence in the training week to have the confidence for the weekend. And if you’re successful in the training you will feel much better for the weekend, for the important games, and that’s the way we have to work, and that’s the most important thing. At the end, it doesn’t matter if someone is writing good or bad things about us, as it’s not interesting for me.”
What is interesting for you is that the fans sang your name and are clearly so pleased to have you back in a West Ham shirt?
“Yeah, of course. I’m very excited and I’m looking forward to starting my first game in the London Stadium in the Premier League. I had already one game in the [Carabao] cup, but I wasn’t on my 100% performance on that day. And I think I have come back now and I can go again for more minutes and more minutes and I’m very happy about it. It was a long time and a very sad time, but I worked very hard to get to my best performance on the pitch to show the fans that I can help the team and I’m very happy to be here.”
