West Ham 1 Angers Sco 0
The Hammers recorded their fourth win on the bounce in Austria this evening and looked far more like the finished article into the bargain.
Manuel Pellegrini left the dug out smiling at the end and so he should after his team worked their way to a win in gruelling 30 degree heat.
The goal came courtesy of Chicharito, scoring from inside the box on his re-appearance off Cresswell’s cross – also appearing for the first time.
We should have had more to be honest notably when Anderson saw a shot blocked after five minutes and when Antonio incredibly put the ball way over the top from the Brazilian’s clever free kick.
But we saw enough tonight to be optimistic that the team is firing with so many new players on board as the manager builds cleverly towards the start of the season at Anfield next weekend.
There was a lot of neat one touch football to admire and at the heart of it was captain Mark Noble controlling the midfield in fine style. Perhaps the time has come for some to appreciate him a little more!
Apart from his miss , Antonio showed that he will have a big part to play this season with those runs of his coming back to what we expect, whilst Cresswell – making his first appearance of pre-season – looked solid and in good nick.
A word for Issa Diop who arrived as a second half sub and looked as good as we have seen him when taking over from Fabian Balbuena who provided one or two worrying moments.
But this was fine and with another week of hard work promised by the manager we look ready for the start of the season.
I hope the home crowds stick with the team for the full 90mins this season. It would be a miracle if we hit the ground running as we’ve got a change of manager, a change of style plus almost a new team. Confidence is everything and they won’t get that if the crowd are leaving early when we are losing. We can do little but hope.
Noble is a much better player I’ve noticed with wilshire beside him. They both know how to keep the ball. Both good passers with willing pacy runners on all sides of them they can now sit in and control the midfield releasing the ball at will. People say noble has no pace. Neither did Pirlo but he was pretty good.