Niclas Füllkrug says he and his West Ham United teammates will feel the benefit of a worthwhile workout against Grasshopper Club Zürich in our pre-season opener on Saturday afternoon, and believes his side are well placed for a successful 2025/26 season.
A first-half strike from Andy Irving set the Irons on their way in Zürich, before substitute Callum Marshall grabbed our second within two minutes of the restart with a classy left-footed drive.
Jonathan Asp Jensen’s well-taken finish gave the hosts brief hope, but the Hammers snatched a third via the penalty spot, when Lucas Paquetá tucked it past Justin Hammel to round-off a successful pre-season camp in Germany.
Füllkrug featured for the opening 45 minutes at GC/Campus against the 27-times Swiss champions, and was unlucky not to score just before half-time. An excellent James Ward-Prowse corner picked out our No11 at the far post, but he headed narrowly over.
And Füllkrug believes that a winning culture is growing inside the Hammers’ dressing room and is determined to show it by having a successful 2025/26 Premier League campaign…
Niclas, how was getting back into the swing of things today?
“It was our first match. We’ve trained now for nearly two weeks, and it’s been very tough, but we did a lot of good work in Germany [on our pre-season training camp]. It’s also been very intense, so today we were a bit fresh, but I think if you consider that, it was a good performance today. We were the better team, and we won 3-1, so in total it wasn’t a bad performance.”
The opening goal from Andy [Irving] summed up the way West Ham want to play, didn’t it?
“I think you saw a lot of good movements from everyone, and our positioning was good. The runs we did in behind to get the ball and create space were good, and it’s moments we’ve trained for, and you could see a lot of good moments like that.
“We had control of possession and had some shots on target, and overall it was a solid performance against an opponent that are much further [in their pre-season schedule than us].”
You had a stop-start season last year, so how good is it to get a full pre-season and to be ready to be firing from the start?
“A full pre-season is always good for everyone, and it doesn’t matter how last season went. We’ve worked very hard so far, and in my opinion, the work we’ve done has been very good, and you could see that in the game today. We’ve made some changes with the ball and off the ball, and it was very clear, so the Head Coach and his staff are doing a great job.”
El Hadji Malick Diouf made his debut today. What's it been like training with him?
“I think he's a nice addition to our team. He's a very physically strong guy, has a lot of good crosses per game, and I’ve had a look at his stats, which are impressive. He's a very good player. He also did very well in the UEFA Europa League (with SK Slavia Prague), so we're happy to have him, and let's see how we get on this season.”
And what's your expectation personally for the season and for West Ham?
“It’s still very early, and I think it's not good to speak with loud or big words. I think we have to prove in the first game [against Sunderland] what we are able to do. When we do that, then we can start to speak about our goals.
“Most importantly, we want to make our fans proud to show a good face for West Ham United, and that’s something that’s very important for us as a team. Now, we look into the future and are enjoying working very hard.
“We’ve got a really good group of players here, and hopefully we can translate our hard work onto the pitch next season.”
