Promising signs from West Ham’s pre-season

I’m going through football withdrawal this summer- so thank goodness for pre-season games. This week involved a brave trek up to Elstree & Borehamwood to see us play Boreham Wood.

The game was one of the more impressive pre-season games I’ve been to. I’ve always thought that the idea of a pre-season game is to keep the players Premier League ready, but also to work out new strategies, playing formations, and player combinations, as well as working out any kinks. Previous years of pre-season games haven’t always convinced me that we’ve been doing this, but Big Sam seems to actually be utilizing these games.

The entirety of the available first team played, with youngsters and new signings mixed in rather than thrown in. This made for a rather enjoyable evening and players seemed to be really working on passing and moving the ball around rather than aiming to thump a huge number of goals past a weaker opposition- which was a welcome sight.

Here’s a few things I noticed during the game:

Ravel Morrison is looking like an exciting player and I would really like to see him get a shot at first team football this year rather than be loaned out. Even though he’s rumoured to have been a bit of a troublesome teen, his presence only caused trouble for the Boreham Wood defence. His positioning was good, and it was good to see him score.

Mark Noble excelled in the first half, and refreshingly didn’t go anywhere near corners (perhaps he read my last piece?) He looked confident and quicker than he had been at the end of the season, and was completely controlling the midfield.

Razvan Rat looks like a strong buy- confident, clever, and great at moving the ball around. I have a teeny tiny worry (based on just 45 min of football, mind) that he has a tendency to push up a little too far, but he was able to recover and get back into position quickly. However, this may have been helped by the slope of the pitch, as it was a nice downhill run to get back towards our goal.

The other thing with Rat is that we’ve got to find the man a nickname. Amused laughs followed the shouts of “Come on Rat” echoed round the ground. It just sounds so odd.

We looked all right out there, with the only nervy moments being when Boreham Wood were suddenly on a break. Our defensive players (in both halves) seemed unequipped to close down anything against the run of play. This was very obvious when a Boreham Wood player broke through our defence in the opening of the game and was able to get around the defence with ease (prompting a shout from the stands of “Allardyce sign him up!!”)

The true surprise of the evening for me was Stockport County signing Danny Whitehead. The youngster looked sharp and quick, yet his passes and movements were carefully considered. The kid can certainly deliver a long ball (which is probably why we’ve signed him.) It’s hard to tell at this stage if he’ll feature in the first team this year (he’s great against Boreham Wood but would he hold onto the ball as well against the Manchesters), but he’s certainly someone to look forward to.

The game provided a lot to look forward to actually. As before, Big Sam does seem to be utilising his pre-season opportunities and we were treated to a show that certainly included goals, but more importantly, showed that the players were working on moving the ball around and keeping control of the game.

So what do you think of our pre-season progress thus far? Did you see the Boreham Wood game, and if so, what did you make of it? Would love to know, either below or make like James Corden and tweet me @makingthemarrow