West Ham boss Manuel Pellegrini has given team mentality to challenge for important things, says Pablo Zabaleta

Ups and downs: Zabaleta hopes West Ham kick on under Manuel Pellegrini
Getty Images
Ken Dyer9 August 2018

It is not difficult to see why West Ham supporters, so disillusioned only a few months ago, are now feeling distinctly bullish about the new season.

New signings at a cost of around £100million and the appointment of a director of football, Mario Husillos, to oversee what has been the contentious area of recruitment at the club, have boosted the mood.

But most of all, it is the arrival of the quiet man from Santiago — Manuel Pellegrini — that is giving fans real cause for optimism. For Pablo Zabaleta, who has seen most things in a career spanning almost 16 years, the appointment of the 64-year-old Chilean provided a welcome reunion with the man who was his manager for three highly successful seasons at Manchester City.

Now the pair are back in tandem again at the London Stadium and Zabaleta is delighted with that prospect.

“When I heard Manuel was coming it was good, it was positive,” says the Argentine defender. “I knew Manuel from City — I spent three years with him [2013-16]. He is very experienced and has worked in big clubs [also managing Real Madrid and Villarreal]. He can bring all of that experience to West Ham — and that has to be really good for us.

“I think all the lads are enjoying it, his training sessions are really good while, as a person, he’s calm, a true gentleman. At the same time, he is so demanding and that is what you need to succeed — a winning mentality.

“He puts a strong emphasis on discipline. If training sessions start at 10.30am, then you have to be there, on the pitch. You have to do your weights every day. They may be small details but they make a difference. That’s all you need sometimes, discipline as a team on and off the pitch.

“In addition to that, he likes his teams to play good, attacking football. That is why he has brought in several creative players this summer. Hopefully, they can settle in quickly.”

And West Ham have certainly dipped into their pockets, their main signings this summer being Felipe Anderson from Lazio for £40m, Issa Diop from Toulouse for £22m and Borussia Dortmund’s Andriy Yarmolenko for £17m. Former Arsenal playmaker Jack Wilshere and the exciting Ryan Fredericks, previously with Fulham, have also joined for free.

In Pictures | West Ham vs Mainz 05 | 31/07/2018

1/28

Zabaleta adds: “The expectation will be huge and we have to give credit to the owners — they have spent the money to bring in top talent but these players have been playing in different leagues in other countries.

“They need to adapt not only to a different way of life but to the Premier League and its intensity, its pace.

“You can already see they have quality. They will improve the quality of the squad for sure. What we will definitely have are attacking ambitions and the right mentality to compete and to be consistent, unlike the past two years when there have been so many ups and downs.

“We will try to build something and to challenge for something important in the next few seasons.”

Zabaleta may be in the autumn of a playing career that saw him win four trophies at City, including two League titles, but at the Hammers last season he was far from operating at cruise control.

“I missed only one Premier League game and that was because I was suspended,” he says. “It was the most League games I have ever played. Before that it was 35 in Manuel’s first season at Manchester City, so I broke my record — at the age of 33! I probably only missed a couple of training sessions all season. I always try to be a good professional and look after myself.”

Zabaleta is in the final year of his contract following his free transfer from City last summer and faces competition for the first-choice right-back slot from 25-year-old Fredericks, who was the first of those nine summer signings.

“I am very happy to have Ryan here,” says Zabaleta. “This club needed long-term players at right-back. He is a young player who came from Fulham after a really good season. Of course, it will be a healthy competition between us, but I will try to help him.

“I don’t know what will happen at the end of the season. It could be my last year in the Premier League, so I want this season to be amazing, I’ll try to enjoy myself and play as much as I can, but that will depend on what I can show to the manager in training and in games.

“All I wish is that we don’t have a similar season to last year. This is my third manager at the club and I have only been here one season. We need to learn from all the mistakes we made and try to be more consistent.”

As for Pellegrini, Zabaleta says: “He was called the ‘charming man’ at City and I couldn’t improve upon that. I spoke to him when he came and he was so happy to be here because he understands the potential of this club.

“He told me he watched all the games from last season and he’s been in the London Stadium already to watch the Rolling Stones concert. He told me it was amazing.

“He said, ‘I can’t believe the potential of West Ham and that is why, when they came to me, I said yes’. He believes he can build something. The players think the same but now we need to show it in our first game at Liverpool [on Sunday]. Let’s see how far we can go.”

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in