Lopetegui told whfc. Com: “Tonight was to show us that we have 15 days in front of us to keep on working very hard and to try to evolve the players we have as soon as possible, and the new players, too.
“We have 15 days to keep working and keep going to put the team in the best way for the first step that is, of course, the first Premier League match against Aston Villa.
“Of course, we have to improve on a lot of things and I think maybe more or less the same as the Wolves game, until 60 minutes we have been balanced in the match.
“After, we have to analyse and ensure we are able to do better, to defend better and don’t concede easy goals. I think we have to change this.
“We are working hard and we know that we have worked very, very hard, so it’s possible that the legs were a little bit tired, so I think we have two days until we go back to London, then we will start the new week with new energy knowing that we have one other friendly match in our stadium to be ready for the key date which is Aston Villa.
“We have to progress and we need to progress for sure.
“There are good things. For example, Michail stayed in the pitch for 60 minutes and it’s good for him, so we are increasing the minutes for certain players.
“Of course, this is a good thing, but they arrived late, so we have to try to take advantage of these days to put all of them in the best way and to analyse how we are going to train the new players who are waiting for us in the next weeks.”
After facing a 3-1 defeat against Wolves in Florida last weekend, West Ham prepared to face Crystal Palace in the second friendly of the Sunshine State Tour.
However, the Hammers faced another 3-1 defeat with almost a similar kind of performance as in the Wolves game. The defence was again underwhelming as Julen Lopetegui’s side conceded three goals again. On that note, here are the three players who struggled against Crystal Palace…
3 West Ham players who struggled against Crystal Palace in the preseason friendly
1. Vladimir Coufal
In his four years at West Ham, Vladimir Coufal has been a great signing and a reliable performer at right back. Coufal has been a key player under former manager David Moyes and his brilliant displays helped the Hammers win the UEFA Conference League in 2023.
However, Coufal doesn’t seem to fit well in Julen Lopetegui’s tactical setup. On the opening goal, Coufal couldn’t clear the ball properly which came to Crystal Palace’s Tyrick Mitchell who made it 1-0 inside the first minute for Palace. Thus, West Ham should sign Aaron Wan-Bissaka quickly to improve the right back position ahead of the upcoming season.
Michail Antonio says West Ham United are ‘learning a new way to play’ and it will take time for Julen Lopetegui’s philosophy to translate into consistent performances and results.
Antonio scored on his second appearance under the Head Coach in Saturday’s 3-1 Stateside Cup defeat by Crystal Palace in Florida – the second time he has found the net in the United States this summer after his Copa América strike for Jamaica against Ecuador in late June – and got welcome pre-season minutes in his legs in hot and humid conditions.
The 34-year-old has already stated his desire to fight for regular minutes under Lopetegui, and his all-round performance and work-rate at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa earned recognition from the Spaniard.
However, the overall display was a work in progress and defensive errors meant it was Palace, and not the Hammers, who return to London with the silverware.
Antonio said: “I’m obviously disappointed by the result, but we’re seeing some positive signs as obviously we’re changing the philosophy, changing the tactics, changing how we played from last season, so things are going to take us time to build up for us to learn how we want to play, so we can take a lot of positives from the game and keep moving forward.
“Conceding in 40 seconds is a bit crazy, and it was a bit of a mad start, but after that we kind of took control of the game. Obviously they had some good opportunities, I’m not going to be blind to that, as they probably created more chances than us, but possession-wise I thought we had a lot of possession and had a lot of the ball and pressed them quite well.
“It was just a few mistakes that made us concede goals, but I just don’t want anyone to panic, really. We’re learning a new way to play. We’re showing that we can start pressing high and sometimes people are going to find pockets and play through us, but there were a lot of positives and we keep moving forward to the season.
“Two weeks is a long time away from families and stuff like that, so now we’ll get back and see them and concentrate on the Premier League. We’ve got one more game before that and hopefully we can get a positive result.”
Antonio concluded by thanking the American members of the Claret and Blue Army for turning out in numbers during the two-week Stateside Cup Tour, welcoming the players wherever they have been in Tampa and Jacksonville and places in between.
“You don’t realise how big West Ham is until you start travelling,” the No9 enthused. “Everywhere I’ve been on holiday or anywhere I’ve met West Ham fans.
“As the fans say every day, West Ham are massive!”
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