West Ham United’s players were given a firm dressing down during training ahead of the clash with Newcastle as higher standards were audibly demanded.
But while tensions were clear, four players stood out for all the right reasons and fans won’t believe one thing that was witnessed in the session.
West Ham welcome Newcastle United to the London Stadium on Sunday in what is a huge game for Nuno Espirito Santo and the Hammers’ survival hopes.
After an abysmal start to the Premier League season, West Ham are stuck in the bottom three until after the November international break at least.
Relegation is now a very real threat following defeats to Brentford and Leeds.
Five big things spotted in West Ham training for Newcastle
West Ham must somehow pull a few rabbits out of the hat with a shock result or two to turn the sinking ship around.
Beating Eddie Howe’s brilliant Newcastle side would certainly be one of those.
Since Howe took over the Magpies they have not only closed the gap on the Hammers but surpassed them in all aspects on and off the pitch.
Nuno needs to start getting a tune out of his side with West Ham needing to turn their win ratio from one in nine to one in three for the rest of the season if they are to stay up.
The Hammers have won just two home games this calendar year, against a Leicester side that were relegated and Fulham.
Nuno has had nine days working with his squad following the 2-1 defeat at Leeds last Friday night.
Here are five big things that were spotted at Rush Green as the Hammers prepare for their next crucial fixture.
West Ham fans won’t believe finishing
The Irons have scored just seven Premier League goals so far this season, the joint second worst in the top flight.
It doesn’t help that Nuno elected to play without a striker in his last two must-win games.
West Ham clearly needed a top young, pacy striker in the summer in addition to the signing of experienced but ageing and injury-prone Callum Wilson.
The Hammers are paying a heavy price for failing to bring one in.
You wouldn’t guess West Ham’s problems in front of goal from looking at their pre-Newcastle training session, though.
The standard of finishing is superb throughout the drills and small-sided games.
Even the likes of Max Kilman, who can’t keep them out at the other end, was joining Jarrod Bowen and Callum Wilson in producing brilliant goals.
Let’s hope that is carried into the game against Newcastle.
Quartet shine bright in Hammers training
Obviously the footage released by West Ham is limited to clips from one session.
But four players in particular stand out.
Jarrod Bowen has had the weight of the entire club on his shoulders for the last couple of years of struggle. But he looked razor sharp in training, scoring goal after goal and laying on assists.
Bowen roasted several of his teammates and sticks out like a sore thumb as head and shoulders West Ham’s best player.
Encouragingly, defender Jean-Clair Todibo also performed well. Showing strength pace and improved concentration, Todibo was given plenty of encouragement from the coaches.
He was one of the few players who could actually stop Bowen on occasion too.
Young midfielder Soungoutou Magassa has been controversially dropped by Nuno of late.
But the Frenchman was arguably the second best player on show behind Bowen.
Dominating midfield in small-sided games, Magassa was strong defensively but also showed his skill on the ball and produced some excellent finishes.
Another star who struggles to get a look in also starred in training for Newcastle in the shape of Luis Guilherme.
The Brazilian winger trains with a smile on his face and had El Hadji Malick Diouf on toast as he scored some lovely goals.
No sign of Lucas Paqueta in West Ham training but fears allayed
One notable absence in the footage was Brazilian magnifico Lucas Paqueta.
After starting the season on fire, Paqueta has been more quiet of late.
The playmaker says he loves having a manager he can converse with in his native Portuguese.
But the benefits have not been evident on the pitch yet.
Nuno has talked Paqueta up ahead of the Newcastle game and called on him to really show up and be West Ham’s main man.
Worryingly, though, Paqueta was nowhere to be seen in this particular session.
Fears he may be injured or unavailable for the Newcastle game have been allayed, though, because the Hammers have since published a gallery from training which shows Paqueta involved.
West Ham stars get dressing down over pressing issue
The lack of intensity in West Ham’s performances has been an issue for the best part of two years.
It crept in during the last six months of David Moyes’ tenure and was a problem under Julen Lopetegui, Graham Potter and now Nuno.
Hammers fans want to see their side pressing and harrying the opposition, especially at home.
Ironically West Ham’s pressing was the best it has been all year in their only home wins. It was also key to their 3-0 win at Forest this season.
But Nuno and his assistant Mark Robson clearly aren’t happy with their players’ failure to implement the pressing standards they want.
Robson can be seen stopping the session to demand better from the squad when it comes to pressing, saying only three players are doing it consistently and properly.
Three minutes in to the footage, Robson stops the session and says: “We need everyone to work, everyone to press at the right time.
“We need everyone, we can’t just have two or three!
“It’s hard work, but that’s what we need (Robson adds while chopping his hands), we need you all to do that, ok?”
Let’s hope the message is taken on board against Howe’s excellent side.
Lack of West Ham depth all too clear
One thing that is noticeable from training is the lack of quality in depth Nuno has at his disposal.
Beyond Bowen and Crysencio Summerville, West Ham have so few exciting attacking talents.
It comes across loud and clear in training and must be Nuno’s biggest concern.
The lack of guile and craft was on display when several moves got to the final third and passes were misplaced leading to frustration among players such as Bowen, Callum Wilson and Mateus Fernandes.
That is the result of the miserable failings of the summer window. The only way to fix that will be in January.
Hopefully it won’t be too late by then.
