Julen Lopetegui is gearing up for his debut on the West Ham bench, because the Hammers will open their Premier League marketing campaign on Saturday towards Unai Emery’s Aston Villa.
The previous La Roja and Actual Madrid coach will as soon as once more ply his commerce in England after impressing whereas at Wolves (2022-23). The Basque coach returns to the Premier League with a West Ham facet that has invested closely in a bid to go away their mark within the aggressive English Premier League.
Whereas Lopetegui’s yr away from teaching might not be superb to some, the Spaniard is assured he’ll choose up the place he left off.
“I’ve joined a membership with an necessary following and historical past; with a incredible stadium and a need to develop,” he mentioned.
“The preseason has been one in all adapting, as we’ve got not been in a position to rely on a lot of our internationals. This situation signifies that we’ve got to adapt as shortly as attainable. Within the Premier League, the demand is excessive and we debut towards Aston Villa, some of the ‘prepared’ groups within the league.”
Final season noticed West Ham end ninth within the standings, and the hope is that the Hammers will enhance on that and make a push for Europe. Lopetegui believes exhausting work will get the membership there, although they have to stay affected person.
“The one factor that’s in our fingers is to work day, afternoon and night time to adapt the crew to our thought, being conscious of the calls for that the Premier League imposes on you,” mentioned Lopetegui.
“We are going to strive to not put doorways on our hopes, however understanding that we’ve got to work exhausting. We’ve to be ready for this journey… and be affected person.
“The possession desires the crew to be as aggressive as attainable and to create a long-term mission. However we’ve got to give attention to the current. The competitiveness within the Premier League is excessive. I would not speak about ‘Huge Six’ or ‘Huge Ten’. Any crew can beat anybody right here. We’ve to strategy each recreation as a ultimate. The tallies will are available in Might. We’ve an thrilling begin to the season, however it’s advanced and demanding.”
Lopetegui conscious of aggressive Premier League
Whereas many have tipped Manchester Metropolis and Arsenal to battle it out for the title, Lopetegui believes the league’s competitiveness will see a number of groups combat for high spot.
“In recent times they [Manchester City and Arsenal] have maintained a reasonably direct competitors between them and, presumably, it might be like that once more,” he mentioned.
“However there will likely be quite a lot of groups preventing it out: Aston Villa, Liverpool, Chelsea, Tottenham, a resurgent United. The interior competitiveness of the league is excessive and it’s an added problem in the case of compete in Europe.
One space the place West Ham should enhance is in defence, as solely the three relegated sides conceded extra objectives than them.
With the likes of Wan-Bissaka, Kilman and Todibo having been introduced in to strengthen the backline, Lopetegui believes the important thing to conceding fewer objectives is by having your complete crew play higher.
“Our strategy is extra common,” mentioned the tactician. “We are going to attempt to defend nicely and assault nicely. To compete, you want a strong and dependable crew.
“We are going to attempt to take the correct steps to reinforce all our strengths and conceal our weaknesses.”
