Slaven Bilic was pleased to see his team run in three unanswered goals in a competitive pre-season victory over Karlsruher SC on Saturday.
Andy Carroll, Sofiane Feghouli and Ashley Fletcher were all on target as the Hammers concluded their warm-up games before their UEFA Europa League campaign gets underway in style.
It was not all good news for the Hammers, however. Aaron Cresswell limped off after being on the receiving end of a poor challenge from Karlsruher’s Grischa Promel late on and Bilic will have to wait and see if the left-back’s injury is a serious one.
The boss said: “It was a good test for us, in a good atmosphere against a good team who play in the second Bundesliga.
“They are starting on the first weekend in August, so already they have been in pre-season for a long time.
“It was a good game, and we expected that to be fair. We expected to have hard legs in the games we have played so far, and we expected to be a little fresher for this one.
“We were, and we played some quality football. We played as a team, we were compact, we saw some great things and it was a good result.
“The only downside of this game is that we have to see what is [wrong] with Cresswell. He got injured and it didn’t look that good. We will have to assess it.”
Andy Carroll, Sofiane Feghouli and Ashley Fletcher were all on target as the Hammers concluded their warm-up games before their UEFA Europa League campaign gets underway in style.
It was not all good news for the Hammers, however. Aaron Cresswell limped off after being on the receiving end of a poor challenge from Karlsruher’s Grischa Promel late on and Bilic will have to wait and see if the left-back’s injury is a serious one.
The boss said: “It was a good test for us, in a good atmosphere against a good team who play in the second Bundesliga.
“They are starting on the first weekend in August, so already they have been in pre-season for a long time.
“It was a good game, and we expected that to be fair. We expected to have hard legs in the games we have played so far, and we expected to be a little fresher for this one.
“We were, and we played some quality football. We played as a team, we were compact, we saw some great things and it was a good result.
“The only downside of this game is that we have to see what is [wrong] with Cresswell. He got injured and it didn’t look that good. We will have to assess it.”
We played some quality football. We played as a team, we were compact, we saw some great things and it was a good result
Andy Carroll played his first game of the tour and waited just nine minutes to hit the back of the net. Bilic was delighted with his, and new boy Sofiane Feghouli’s contributions.
He added: “It’s not about Andy’s goals only, it’s about his workrate, his linking play and his quality has never been in doubt. This summer, as we saw in America and now Austria, he has been training hard and doing something [pre-season] that he hasn’t done in a long time.
“Hopefully he is going to stay fit and if he stays fit then I am the happiest man.
“Sofiane is already showing what he is all about. We knew when we were signing him that he is a special kind of player.
“He’s good in the dressing room, a very honest player and we’re going to benefit as a Club a lot from him.”
He added: “It’s not about Andy’s goals only, it’s about his workrate, his linking play and his quality has never been in doubt. This summer, as we saw in America and now Austria, he has been training hard and doing something [pre-season] that he hasn’t done in a long time.
“Hopefully he is going to stay fit and if he stays fit then I am the happiest man.
“Sofiane is already showing what he is all about. We knew when we were signing him that he is a special kind of player.
“He’s good in the dressing room, a very honest player and we’re going to benefit as a Club a lot from him.”