New West Ham boss Julen Lopetegui has welcome players back from their summer break as his first Premier League game in charge draws ever closer.
The Hammers boss believes pre-season is a vital period at every football club and now friendlies are not too far away he spoke about the importance of implementing the right strategy.
“The pre-season is a key moment for us and, of course, we're going to try to take advantage of this time”
“Always in pre-season the aim is to achieve your best level physically and tactically and to know all around that we will translate to the team.”
“Of course, these kind of pre-season matches help you to put the points across although. Obviously, it is going to be important to have demanding matches in the pre-season to achieve these levels.”
The Spaniard spoke more about his tough first game and achieving key objectives
“This time is to be able to translate our ideas, our way to play, our way to manage and have a clear relationship between us. All these things are very important and the part of a technical director is key to have the best Club possible, to be able have the better players, to manage them to be able to achieve in our aims.”
“We’re up against one of the best teams in the league last season. They thoroughly deserved to qualify for the Champions League. They have an extraordinary squad – and their coaching staff (led by head coach and Lopetegui’s fellow Basque Unai Emery) are sensational. It will obviously be a very difficult and demanding game but that’s the same with every game in the Premier League – it’s always hard. We will make sure that we train hard so we are as prepared as we can be for a very difficult start to the season but at the same time it will be so exciting and amazing.”