Bruno believes West Ham United are creating a positive vibe on and off the pitch as the 2025/26 Premier League season approaches.
The First-Team Coach spoke with a smile on his face after seeing the Hammers put the hard work he, Head Coach Graham Potter and the staff have been putting into the players during their pre-season camps in Germany and the United States into action in Wednesday’s 2-1 Premier League Summer Series victory over Everton.
There has been a glow around the group, despite the relentlessly hot and humid weather and extensive travel they have experienced since returning to Rush Green three weeks ago, and the Spaniard says that is no coincidence, as the staff look to implement their thoughts and philosophies.
There was much to admire about Wednesday’s win at Soldier Field in Chicago, where the Hammers recovered from conceding a relatively early goal to secure three points through Lucas Paqueta’s opportunistic finish and Niclas Fullkrug’s unerring strike.
Those goals aside, West Ham defended securely and pressed as a team, regularly winning the ball back and then keeping it for long periods, and repeatedly troubling a usually tight David Moyes-coached Everton back line.
With thousands of supporters cheering them on in the Windy City, it was a night and a game to inspire optimism in everyone in Claret and Blue…
Against a good opposition, in a difficult pitch, and it was a really good game for us with players getting 45 minutes, that was the plan for us, with a lot of young players getting an opportunity as well.
We are really happy with the performance. I think the boys showed a lot of character, especially we're really happy with the reactions after losing the ball.
You can see the aggressivity, you can see the intensity, and it shows a lot of character and personality.
The pressing to win the ball back before the second goal is just the what, and it’s how we want to play.
Niclas is really happy because he's feeling really well. He's feeling really sharp, and he's shown that from recovering a ball and scoring, it takes a lot. We're really happy with that.
Lucas is in a really good moment, finding his fitness as well, mentally really good, really focusing on the group, helping the young boys as well. He's a role model.
He has to lead as well, and we're really happy.
We're trying to bring everyone together.
I think last season was a difficult season for everyone, with a lot of new players, a lot of changes, and we're trying to bring everyone together because it's the only way – stick together, play as a team. Whatever we do, stick together, and that's the main goal for us.
I think the main thing is communication.
Normally, the main problems come based on miscommunication, and the boys have been top at that. They communicate really well.
The leadership group has been top, trying to help everyone to lead, and they're leading by example.
In any families there are always situations, but at the moment, we're really happy with how things are going. We're making a big effort to keep everyone aligned. I think that's helping massively to have that feeling, that vibe, and then you can see it on the pitch.
I think we're trying to focus on what we can control.
The weather, the pitch, we can’t control that. It's our actions and how we communicate we can control, and I think the boys are doing top.
This is focusing on the next action, how we can carry on, how we can keep pushing, and not thinking about external situations, neither the pitch, neither the referee, neither the weather, and that's what we're trying to focus on as well.
We're trying to enjoy the madness of travelling up and down and adapting to pitches.
But yes, again, trying to maximise the experience, trying to maximise the time with the boys, trying to maximise the pitch, trying to maximise the training sessions.
It doesn't give us too much space, but we try to be as perfect as we can be.
Again, we try to focus on winning on Sunday and control what we can control but obviously, winning the tournament would be big for us.
