Angelo Ogbonna says West Ham United are determined to show Olympiacos ‘our identity’ when they face the Greek side at London Stadium on Thursday evening.
The Hammers were defeated 2-1 in front of a loud and colourful capacity crowd in Piraeus a fortnight ago, where defensive mistakes including an own-goal from the Italian saw the English side’s 17-match unbeaten run in European matches come to an end.
That run saw the Irons bounce back from the disappointment of losing in the UEFA Europa League semi-finals in 2021/22 to win the UEFA Europa Conference League in May, before winning the opening two ties of this season’s Europa League Group A campaign.
With in excess of 55,000 supporters expected at London Stadium for the reverse fixture with Olympiacos, Ogbonna believes the Claret and Blue Army will be determined to show they too can help their team make things difficult for the opposition.
“I think tonight’s game is a very important one at our stadium and all the tickets have been sold out. The people are getting used to us being in Europe and they are coming home and away. The change [at West Ham] has been massive and everyone excited about that change.
“I think there has been a massive change, not just for the players but for everyone, for the staff in every department. We have improved in every department and for us to be playing for the third time in Europe has been great for everyone.
“We are enjoying it totally. It’s very good for the Club. Unfortunately, we lost at Olympiacos, but our run must continue and we’re still at the top of our group and we’re looking forward for the next game.
“What they showed us, in terms of their fans and everything, we’re looking forward to showing them our home. To be honest, it’s about our identity. West Ham fans, if we lose or we win, they are always behind us.”
While West Ham have been consistent performers in cup competitions in recent seasons, excelling in Europe and reaching two EFL Cup quarter-finals, Ogbonna played down the suggestion that the Hammers have become a ‘cup team’, and dismissed the inference that their league form had suffered as a consequence of concentrating their efforts on knockout competitions.
“Every competition is very important, we don’t look only at one competition,” he confirmed. “We have many games we play. We play in the Premier League, which is one of the toughest leagues in the world, and I think we look at things game-by-game and it’s very important for us to perform in every game.
“To be honest, we lost our last game [in Europe] so our run stopped, but we are looking [to win] every game, not just European games.”
West Ham go into Thursday’s tie off the back of three Premier League defeats in succession, most recently squandering a lead to lose 3-2 at Brentford on Saturday, but Ogbonna insisted that they will go into the Olympiacos tie with clear minds and the sole intention of playing well and winning.
“We will try our best to bounce back from a defeat, but every game is different and we need to perform in this one to get three points,” he concluded.
“I think our confidence is good. We started the season really well and the last two weeks we’ve had bad results, but the Premier League table is very tight and the Premier League is always unpredictable, so I think our confidence is always good.”
