West Ham will go into the new Premier League season with plenty of issues to fix, some positives but a number of players giving cause for concern after a penalty shootout win over Lille following a 1-1 draw.
The atmosphere around West Ham has been a lot more positive of late.
Graham Potter has been focusing on fostering a real togetherness and team spirit.
That will undoubtedly stand the Hammers in good stead as the season goes on.
But the Premier League is ruthlessly competitive – next season perhaps more so than any time in the last decade – and a good team spirit will only get West Ham so far.
Potter said he “ideally” wanted his signings in early this summer so he could work with them in pre-season.
Mads Hermansen made it four signings for West Ham with three weeks of the window to go.
Potter’s obsession with West Ham crab must end
The club is on the hunt for at least one new midfielder – with Jacob Ramsey and Mateus Fernandes linked.
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West Ham are also being heavily linked with young Metz forward Idrissa Gueye – who has been likened to Olivier Giroud.
There was no lack of irony then that a 38-year-old Giroud haunted the Hammers once again by scoring for Lille on his return to London in what was a tale of two halves for Potter’s side.
The ground was only half open for the game and it is probably just as well. This was not a performance that will have any West Ham fans shouting from the rooftops about what their team will be capable of this season.
While it is only pre-season, fans would usually expect to see much more intensity in the game before the big kick-off.
This is Potter’s starting XI as he sees it right now and there are still many problems to fix.
Let’s look at the positives first.
Goalscorer Niclas Fullkrug celebrates with goalkeeper Alphonse Areola after his double penalty save for West Ham against Lille
Photo by Richard Pelham/Getty Images
Aaron Wan-Bissaka, El Hadji Malick Diouf, Freddie Potts, Jarrod Bowen, Niclas Fullkrug and Jean-Clair Todibo all played well and showed their class.
And special mention for Alphonse Areola who has seen Hermansen come in as West Ham’s record goalkeeper signing but saved two penalties to ensure the Hammers go into the new season on a winning note.
Fullkrug and Bowen combined well together and the German got another goal which is great for his confidence.
But any hopes the Hammers might suddenly be ready to challenge for the top eight or six again anytime soon have been put sharply into perspective.
Potter’s obsession with West Ham’s crab must end and there are serious concerns over trio.
Quite what Potter sees in James Ward-Prowse is anyone’s guess.
Ward-Prowse is a fantastic pro and by all accounts a good character in the dressing room.
Serious concerns over West Ham trio
But there is a fair argument to say he was finished at Premier League level before he joined West Ham for £30m, let alone now.
When he’s not passing sideways, Ward-Prowse is passing backwards.
Beyond some of his set-pieces, he offers very little and can’t play on the half-turn – which is what a Potter side needs and demands.
If West Ham do somehow manage to get Ramsey or Fernandes, Ward-Prowse must be the man to make way.
Tomas Soucek can feel himself very hard done by being frozen out for Ward-Prowse.
West Ham midfielder James Ward-Prowse looks on from the tunnel
Photo by Michael Reaves – Premier League/Getty Images for Premier League
Indeed there is even an argument that youngster Preston Fearon showed he can offer so much more in his pre-season minutes in the US.
Soucek made his point to Potter when he came on late on, making a superb run and pulling the ball back for Fullkrug to score a tap-in.
It was what West Ham deserved for an improved second half display, which saw the team press much higher up the pitch.
Fans won’t be sticking their heads in the sand, though, ahead of what will be a seriously tough campaign given the sheer quality in every Premier League team.
Hammers defence will struggle in big step up to Premier League
That is why Max Kilman and Nayef Aguerd are major concerns.
There is consistent evidence that Todibo and Kilman simply don’t work as a central defensive partnership.
Aguerd was so bad he was bombed out on loan yet he has come back and gets in the side ahead of Konstantinos Mavropanos. So that tells you everything about the Greek.
Despite playing three centre-backs against one 38-year-old striker, Giroud had time to make a five-yard run inside the box, control the ball on his chest with his back to goal, swivel and volley it into the net without a West Ham player anywhere near him.
Of course it happened on Aguerd and Kilman’s side of the box.
Max Kilman marking Olivier Giroud in West Ham's pre-season clash with Lille at the London Stadium
Photo by Richard Pelham/Getty Images
It was shocking defending that should be ringing alarm bells in the West Ham boardroom.
Todibo was the best of the three and was excellent on the ball.
But a back three of the Frenchman, Kilman and Aguerd simply will not work on this evidence.
They are too slow and nervy to really give West Ham a solid foundation to build a new-look team around.
Lucas Paqueta was another who struggled badly.
Lackadaisical with his passing and nowhere near as prominent in the game as a player of his talent should be, Paqueta gives Potter a big problem as he is too much of a luxury when he plays like this.
West Ham struggled to get out of their own half in the first 45 minutes.
So it did not take much to improve in the second. Thankfully the Hammers did with Diouf and Wan-Bissaka shining.
As the second half wore on West Ham grew into the game and had some chances with a Fullkrug header pawed over.
Bowen and Fullkrug looked good in patches and combined well as the captain saw an effort from outside of the box tipped onto the bar in the last 10 minutes.
Fullkrug got his goal late on but then missed a penalty in the subsequent shootout – just as he did last pre-season.
Potts was booked once again, suggesting he will need to raise his levels off the ball if he is to survive in the Premier League.
Positive pre-season overall for West Ham but Potter needs help
But the son of Hammers legend Steve was good on the ball and the best of West Ham’s midfield three.
Lille are a decent side who will be playing in Europe next season. But the majority of teams the Hammers will face in the Premier League will be better than the Ligue 1 outfit.
Kyle Walker-Peters looked good when he came on and well-suited to the team.
The first half was very poor whereas the second was encouraging.
Overall, though, pre-season has been much more positive than negative for West Ham United. With the emphasis on the word UNITED.
But West Ham really do need more if they want to be more than a middle of the road team happy to just avoid relegation.
The team is sorely lacking pace and power in central midfield, and up front to change things up.
Potter must get some help with more signings, and quality ones at that.
West Ham player ratings vs Lille:
Alphonse Areola: 8/10, Malick Diouf: 7/10, Jean-Clair Todibo: 7/10, Max Kilman: 5/10, Nayef Aguerd: 5/10, Aaron Wan-Bissaka: 7/10, Freddie Potts: 6.5/10, Lucas Paqueta: 5/10, James Ward-Prowse: 4/10, Jarrod Bowen: 7/10, Niclas Fullkrug: 8/10.
Subs: Tomas Soucek: 7/10, Walker-Peters: 6/10, Guido Rodriguez: 6/10.