How Moyes got West Ham in shape and shoot the season – Athletic

To highlight how West Ham United’s culture has changed, Declan Rice returned to practice five days earlier than this summer to keep him in top shape before the start of the season.

The 22-year-old had played a leading role in England when he reached the finals of the European Championships, which they lost with penalties to Italy on 11 July. The midfielder was supposed to be off for three weeks, but after 10 days a break in Ibiza, during which he had maintained his fitness with regular runs, Rice told of West Ham’s early season base at the Pennyhill Park luxury hotel complex in south-west London and soon played closed-door Friendlies.

David Moyes returned to West Ham as manager in December 2019 for the second time, and he has strengthened the team’s strong work ethic and his players under the age of 23 have followed suit.

Forward Mipo Odubeko, for example, decided not to go on vacation this summer and instead focused on improving his fitness with his personal coaches. Jamal Baptiste worked his air skills alongside former West Ham trainee Sam Westley. Baptiste’s hard work has paid off — he scored goal goals in pre-season friendly matches against Dundee and Southend United.

Emmanuel Longelo focused on getting players in position for long range shots. This, too, had the desired effect, with the defender putting two of them online in a 3-0 win over Birmingham City for under-23s earlier this month.

When Moyes returned from his own summer vacation, players under the age of 23 were ordered to return two weeks before West Ham’s senior professionals to make sure they were on the move during the sessions.

Baptiste, Nathan Holland, Pierre Ekwah Elimby, Conor Coventry, Xande Silva, Jacob Knightbridge, Frederik Alves, Ajibola Alese, Nathan Trott and Krisztian Hegyi were present at a week-long training camp at St Andrews Golf Center in Scotland.