Niclas Füllkrug believes his West Ham United team are in a good place, physically and mentally, going into the Premier League season opener against Sunderland.
The No11 was on the scoresheet as the Hammers ended their pre-season campaign with silverware, following a penalty shootout victory over LOSC Lille at London Stadium.
It brought to a conclusion a summer programme which took in four countries and also brought victories against Grasshopper Club Zürich, Everton and AFC Bournemouth - and all while Füllkrug managed to hit the back of the net on three occasions himself.
Following an injury-disrupted debut campaign in east London, Füllkrug is thrilled to have got a full pre-season’s worth of training under his belt and now cannot wait for the action to begin for real at the Stadium of Light.
“It was a good day on Saturday,” he explained. “I'm very proud of the team. We did a great job and we never gave up.
“We had good mentality, good mindset. The players who came on the pitch, they did a good job. They brought new energy on the pitch.
“I'm very happy with the team and what we achieved.”
Füllkrug’s goal came late against the four-times French champions, securing a 1-1 draw in regulation play after Olivier Giroud had earlier opened the scoring for the visitors.
Although the Germany international then saw Arnaud Bodart save his spot-kick in the shootout, two subsequent stops by Alphonse Areola gave the Irons the spoils.
The No11 was happy with how he and the team kept going to gain their reward in the end.
“I think late goals is one of my strengths,” he continued, “If you see all my seasons where I scored a lot of goals, I think nearly half of them were after the 75th minute because then I start to get new energy.
“Then I start to get sometimes a little bit angry if it doesn't go how I want or how we want it as a team. I think when you see the second half, we could have scored already earlier because we had good chances. We created good chances.
“We had very good possession, good moments and we played how we wanted to play. The coach was also very happy with what we did. But then it happened in the 87th or 86th minute and I'm also happy with that.
“Then, with the shootout, we had a good, positive ending to a tough pre-season.
“It was also a tough game against Lille, but I think we are ready for the season and we showed that on Saturday.”
Füllkrug has spent this summer developing a new strike partnership with Jarrod Bowen, as Head Coach Graham Potter has favoured a three at the back and two up-front system.
The No11 believes their work is already bearing fruit and that the link-up can only improve with more game time.
“I love Jarrod,” he added. “I think you can see the link-up is very good. I try to bring the ball to him in his strongest situation, where he can go one-on-one or go in behind.
“You could see also today, I think there were three or four situations where we linked up very well. He tried to do the same for me. Also, when I scored the goal, we worked very well against the ball.
“That's also important for strikers. We are the defenders, we recognise it too. It's very important for the team that the defenders see us [that way].
“We go for the ball, we defend with them and they help us to score goals. I love this guy. He's my skipper.
“For us, the most important thing is the team. I think that's also what changed to the last year.
“We don't need to speak so much about players, if I score, if Jarrod scores, if Malick assists. We as a team did a great job, everyone. That's the most important and that's what the atmosphere is right now on the team.
“It helps us to be successful, for sure.”
