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“We often wait” – West Ham player criticises squad mentality, wants team to start games strongly

West Ham United picked up a 2-1 win over Wolverhampton Wanderers on Monday evening.

The Hammers are 14th in the Premier League and have won only two of their last six games, having conceded 28 goals in the campaign already.

Julen Lopetegui will see the win on Monday as much-needed relief but also be aware there is a lot of work yet to be done.

Before the game in London yesterday, Hammers’ full-back Emerson Palmieri spoke to Gianluca di Marzio’s website about the situation at West Ham and had some criticism for the team’s mentality during games.

The Italy international said: “I don’t know, we work every day like all the teams to avoid conceding goals. But sometimes we lack a bit of mentality, we have to start the game strong straight away.”

Speaking further, Emerson said: “We often wait to concede before waking up but in the Premier League it gets tough if you have to chase the whole game.”

He was also asked about West Ham’s involvement in an upcoming relegation battle and said: “Come on, come on! This is always the case. For the quality we have in our team we have a lot of confidence in ourselves.

“We know that the Premier League is the most difficult league but we have to look up and try to win the next games.”

Lopetegui’s side didn’t concede early against Wolves on Monday and they took the lead in the second half through Tomas Soucek.

Matt Doherty equalised some minutes later but Jarrod Bowen’s 72nd minute strike handed West Ham all three points.

That is ideally how Hammers’ supporters would want games to pan out, considering how their side conceded first against Leicester City, Arsenal and Nottingham Forest in the last few games.

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