Hammers' training takes off

West Ham United's players were put through their paces in their new surroundings on Monday evening as preparations step up for the first game of the tour against Rot Weiss Erfurt on Wednesday.

Sam Allardyce and Neil McDonald led the session, which was held in beautiful sunshine against a backdrop of a hot air balloons taking off, as the squad was split into three groups. While the goalkeepers worked away solidly for an hour at one end of the pitch, the rest of the squad were split in two with small-sided keep-ball games. Robert Hall looked sharp with a few goals in the practice game at the end of the session, while Modibo Maiga was given a warm welcome on his arrival halfway through.

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Modibo Maiga has joined up with his new team-mates for the very first time