West Ham United U23s are desperate to returning to winning ways when the developmental Irons welcome Swansea City to Rush Green Stadium on Friday, according to Lead Coach Mark Robson.
The young Hammers will face the Swans in the final Group F match in the Premier League Cup this week – a game that can be watched live for free on the West Ham United YouTube Channel – and will be keen to bounce back after consecutive Premier League 2 defeats.
The U23s were beaten 2-1 by Leicester City two weeks ago and, despite an encouraging performance, fell to a 3-1 loss at Manchester United on Saturday.
Robson is looking for his side to show a winning mentality in Friday’s game, noting that two defeats on the bounce presents a massive development opportunity for his young team.
Sometimes when you’re not getting the results you want, you need to work that little bit harder. That’s what we want to see in these players when it comes to Friday’s game.
Mark Robson
“Training has been good,” Robson told whufc.com “We’ve had to lift a couple of the players up because I think there’s a bit of disappointment in the squad after losing two games on the spin. That’s something that hasn’t happened in the last few months so we’re dusting ourselves off and getting ready to go again.
“Sometimes when you’re not getting the results you want, you need to work that little bit harder. That’s what we want to see in these players on the training pitch and when it comes to Friday’s game.
“Weeks like this are absolutely a big development opportunity. The idea is, if you’re at the top end of football and in a senior team, and you’ve lost a couple of games, it becomes really important to win the next one.
“The mentality around that – the winning mentality – is something that we have to really try and develop. That’s vitally important to these lads at this age, because they’re at a point in their careers where the next step is first team football.
“They’ve got to learn to win and to be able to take hard times, and how to come out of those difficult matches on the other side. There’s always another game which gives you an opportunity to do that, and we’ll be looking for that on Friday. It’s a chance to bounce back and put in a good performance, and hopefully the win.”
Robson was less than a month into his tenure as West Ham U23’s Lead Coach when the Irons visited Swansea in the reverse fixture in December.
The young Hammers put on a tremendous attacking showing, securing a 4-2 away victory against the south Wales side.
Robson knows that Friday’s opponents will represent a tricky challenge for his developmental squad.
“Swansea play good football and they’re quite expansive. They’ve stuck to a defined style of playing in the last few months and they will be a good side this week.
“They score goals so we’ll need to be on our guard, but we also know we can cause them problems and threaten their goal as well. They’re a team that can hurt you so it will be a tough game for sure.”
West Ham host Swansea in the U23’s final game in Group F, with a place in the Premier League cup round of 16 already secured.
Despite the fixture on Friday not posing a threat to West Ham’s chance of reaching the knock-out stage of the competition, Robson has dismissed any notion that his team will not be taking the challenge Swansea offer with anything less than 100 per cent professionalism and tenacity.
The U23s Lead Coach says the team recognises that Friday’s game is an opportunity to get back to winning ways, potentially in front of members of David Moyes’ first-team coaching staff.
Robson added: “This is a vitally important game. It’s a big game for our lads. There are one or two players that need some minutes, and we need to make sure they stay fit. It’s another challenge and another opportunity to put in a good performance.
“Hopefully, we may have some of the first team staff here on Friday watching our boys playing, so it will be down to the team to put on a performance that leaves a lasting impression.”