Fredericks admits pressure in honest analysis

Ryan Fredericks has given his most comprehensive view yet of the Hammers and where they intend to go this season.

And it’s clear that after a year in charge of the club Manuel Pellegrini’s methods are finally getting through to players as they adapt to the ‘pure football’ regime which has been the Chilean’s aim since Day One.

In a frank interview at https://www.whufc.com/news/articles/2019/august/30-august/ryan-fredericks-entertainment-momentum-summer-signings-and the right back admits there is still stuff to put right but that there is no reason whey the team really can’t now press on.

However, such is the attacking emphasis from the manager he admits it puts pressure on the defence which really needs to be much tighter.

He’s right of course but as has been mentioned regularly by many the positive approach of the manager can only produce the sort of attacking football the fans have been craving for over many years.

And with Seb Haller up front looking as good a striker as we have seen for years, and midfielders who can truly play and create, hopes are still very high for that top seven finish.

The former Fulham man said: “We play an attacking brand of football. We attack from all areas of the pitch: central, wide, full-backs, wingers, strikers, everywhere.

“At times I guess we might leave ourselves open, which is a bit tough for us defenders! But that’s the style of play that the manager wants, and I think we’ve got players that are best suited to that.

“We’re an exciting team to watch, and there’s always a lot of goals in our games. I’m sure if we could just cut out a few of the goals we’re conceding, we’re going to win a lot more games.

“We’re all fully behind the manager’s methods and, most games, when we really implement what we work on during the week on the training pitch, we pick up the three points.”

“The only target we’ve got is to improve on last season. I don’t think there’s any reason we can’t push on again.

“We’re trying to play like some of the top teams. We go out in games now looking for the three points from the very first minute.

Looking at  this weekend’s game he added: ” The manager wants us to win all of our games at home. He installs confidence in us that, no matter who we play at home, we need to be the attacking team.

“We need to have more of the ball, and we need to create chances, score goals, and win games.

“We seem to be going on little good runs and bad runs, so as long as we can limit the bad runs this season, the wins will take care of themselves.”

Commenting on three of his colleagues, Wilshere, Fornals and Haller he said: “Jack’s a class player, we all know it. He’s not had the best luck with injuries since he’s been here, but we’ve said every day in training how good he is.

“Fornals is a very good player, there’s a lot of potential there. I’m sure it might take him a few games to get used to the switch between playing in Spain and playing in the Premier League, but he’s got all the tools necessary to be a very good player for West Ham.

“Haller’s got a bit of everything I think. He links up the play well – he’s not just a big man that gets into the box, he can do a bit on the ball – and he pulls out finishes from some crazy angles!

“He gets in legs in weird positions to score goals, like he did the other day with the bicycle kick [against Watford on Saturday]. I’m sure now he’s got his first couple of goals, he’s going to carry on firing us up the table.”