West Ham United U21s continued their preparations for the conclusion of 2023/24 with a 2-1 win against French side Rennes U21s on Wednesday lunchtime.
The young Hammers host Derby County and then travel to play Norwich City at Carrow Road in Premier League 2, on either side of a Premier League International Cup semi-final against PSV on Tuesday 9 April, and will take confidence from a recent run of form.
With a few Hammers away over the March international break – including Finlay Herrick and Lewis Orford, who helped England MU18s to Pinatar Cup success – the remaining U21s featured in a pair of friendlies to prepare for the conclusion of 2023/24.
Following a 2-0 win away to Luton Town U21s a week ago, Steve Potts’ side beat their visitors to Rush Green Stadium with a second-half flurry, as the visitors’ set-piece opener was overturned by goals from Regan Clayton and then a later winner from Dan Rigge.
Positive results and valuable minutes were gained for the development squad over the past two weeks, and this puts the team in a good place ahead of a return to competitive action, according to assistant coach Gerard Prenderville…
It was a great game against Rennes – and a bit different from the opposition we’re used to in Premier League 2.
They were really good, especially in the first half where they scored from an early set-piece. But I think we had some near moments before the break and in the second half we tweaked a few things around how we pressed. Regan headed the equaliser in and then the younger boys came on to connect and get us the winner.
Regan Clayton has that real determination and will and want to score - and he showed that with his header against Rennes.
He has that same attitude whether he is crossing or wanting to get into the final third and get goals and assist. I am really pleased for him.
Sean Tarima came on against Brighton and he did well against Luton and also today against Rennes.
He has had to be patient to get his minutes this year but for him to come in and get his involvement today was good. I thought the back-five today [Tarima, Kaelan Casey, Luizao, Clayton, and Junior Robinson] worked really hard because while we want to be aggressive and on the front foot, there were times when we had to be patient and sit in a mid to low block too.
We wanted these friendly games to keep the boys fresh because we are going into a spell of three games in seven days.
We need to prepare well because Derby, PSV, and Norwich are all going to be very different challenges for the group. We have to make sure we have a game plan, and we are tactically ready for those three games before we play Leicester City in the final game of the season.
It is great to see some of the boys getting involved with their countries over the break.
We had Finlay Herrick and Lewis Orford away with England, Sean Moore with the Republic of Ireland U19s, and Patrick Kelly too [Northern Ireland U21s]. It’s great for Fin and Lewis because they are both still Scholars, so it is great to see them getting the chance to go away and represent their countries.
