West Ham United Head Coach Julen Lopetegui wwas pleased that he was able to give more valuable minutes to his returning players as West Ham United defeated Celta Vigo to win the Betway Cup at London Stadium on Saturday.
The Irons had Jarrod Bowen and Lucas Paquetá back in Claret and Blue, with the duo heavily involved in the big moments of the match as they secured their first minutes of pre-season.
Captain Bowen opened the scoring after six minutes gone at London Stadium, as he made the most of a fantastic lobbed through ball from the Brazilian.
Mihailo brought the visitors level, before Paquetá bagged a goal himself, as he combined beautifully with Bowen and Michail Antonio before stylishly lifting the ball over Ivan Villar.
In the second half, Pablo Durán was the recipient of a ricochet in the box and fired in to bring the Galician side level again, and both sides could not be separated as the full-time whistle sounded, meaning penalties were required.
The Hammers would ultimately win the shootout 6-5, with Durán firing his spot kick over the bar, meaning Lopetegui’s side were victorious and captain Bowen lifted the Betway Cup trophy.
The Head Coach gave his assessment of the final pre-season runout, as his side get ready for the new season to begin next week against Aston Villa back at London Stadium next Saturday 17 August…
We were able to put more minutes into the legs of the players.
Today was the last friendly match, and one that we had to put more minutes inside the legs of the players. It was our last chance to do that, so it was important.
This was a chance for us to win the trophy and to be ready for the first match of the season. I think that we did a lot of good things, but we have to continue improving more in the defensive phase.
We have to continue working hard, for sure.
The new players had the opportunity to get to know our stadium and to get to see what our fans are like. We have to say thank you to the fans for coming to the game today and supporting us - that’s very important for us.
I’m sure we will have a fantastic atmosphere from them when we face Aston Villa next weekend. It will be a big challenge for us, and we have to be ready.
Jarrod [Bowen] and Lucas [Paquetá] played their first minutes with us today.
They both played their first minutes with us today, and of course, they aren’t ready for 90 minutes at the moment. That’s why today’s game was really important, and so that we can make sure all of the players are in a good place to compete against Aston Villa.
We know that some players are heading into the new season with a small number of minutes, but this is something we have to be ready to adapt to and make sure we’re ready for the first match.
The players that we have signed are all going to add a lot of good things.
They are going to need time because they are coming into a new club and Guido [Rodríguez] and Niclas [Füllkrug] haven’t had full pre-seasons before joining us, so they have to work very hard in the next couple of weeks to be ready to help us in the early weeks of the season.
I’m very excited for the Premier League season to begin.
We’ve been working hard during pre-season to prepare us for the first game. We are aware that we’re going to play against a strong team, but we are sure that we are going to be ready to work hard and give everything against Aston Villa.
This is our last week to work and to involve the new players that have arrived. We know that this will be the same for all teams in the league. We’re looking forward to starting the campaign.
