In an interview after West Ham’s 4-1 home victory over Ipswich Town, Emerson Palmieri said it is ‘just the beginning’ of how the Hammers can play under new Head Coach Julen Lopetegui.
The Italian International has struggled at points this season, but he really impressed against the Tractor Boys on Saturday afternoon. Emerson was involved in Kudus’ goal, he beat two defenders and crossed the ball into Michail Antonio, who headed powerfully onto the crossbar, Kudus followed in to leap the highest and head into the back of the net to make it 3-1.
Emerson said: “I think we did very well after some not good results at home. We won and we played well. I think it was a good result and now we need to stay in this way.
“I think we put in a lot of intensity, a high press, and all the time we tried to play for this. All the time we tried to score, so this is good. With the possession as well, with the ball, we did it very well. We put in the high press for all the 90 minutes, so I think for this week, we deserved to get this result.
“I think since the first day with the new manager, we always try to do everything well and of course, when you don’t win some people can say things are wrong, but we always work harder and we always try to win every game. I think it was a good result, but it’s just the beginning. We need to stay in this focus and try to win more games.”
Three of the four Hammers goals cam from the teams high press which was conducted very well by the front four, who all managed to get on the scoresheet. Tomas Soucek also continued his form as he was an integral part in both the press and in possession.
Emerson added: “It’s good for confidence, of course,” he confirmed. “They did very well. Jarrod was unbelievable and it’s good for everyone. Everyone scored, so we are happy for them, because we try always to help them to score the goals. And everyone scored, so we are happy for them as well.
“Every player at the front wants to score and wants to make assists. They want to make an impact on our game because they are top players. They understand that you can’t do it in every game, but they have the quality to do it in every game so, because of this, sometimes you can see they are a bit frustrated but, in the end, they always work for the team.
“If you do the high press, that’s because of them because they start the press and at the end of the day we’re happy for them because they scored goals and helped us a lot.”
This was by far West Ham’s best display under Julen Lopetegui so far and has taken a lot of the pressure off of the threat of losing his job during the next international break. The Spaniard will now have a chance to build on this over the next couple of weeks to try and have a similar performance against Tottenham Hotspur on October 19th.