Slaven Bilic is pleased to see the international break as he bids to get the squad up to full fitness.
The manager is particularly pleased that the pearl in the pack – Manu Lanzini – will be able to work his way up to a peak ahead of the next game against Burnley.
He said: “I wouldn’t say the break has come at the wrong time. Some of the players have gone with their national teams and the others can work on their fitness.
“Manuel Lanzini has come back and anyone who follows West Ham knows how important he is to us, so he can work on his fitness also. Pedro Obiang and some other players will come back, while Michail Antonio will use the time to improve his fitness.
“It’s good to have a break now to sort it all out, to say ‘OK guys, this was good, that was good, this is what we need to improve’, so it’s not bad to have it.”
Well, yes. But it is also, based on our past experiences, a wonderful opportunity for our players to go off on international duty & come back with new injuries. A lot of them are still playing football- often two games in the week.