Pre-season phenomenon Niclas Fullkrug felt the nature of his equalising goal in Saturday’s London Stadium friendly clash with Lille showed a different side to West Ham United under Graham Potter.
And nobody epitomises it more than captain marvel Jarrod Bowen.
In fact, Niclas Fullkrug’s 87th minute tap-in – on West Ham United’s London Stadium return – was not the first time Bowen demonstrated the qualities which only intensified the love held towards him by the big friendly German giant.
Shortly after kick-off, Bowen harried Lille defender Alexandro into giving the ball away on the edge of his own penalty area. Only goalkeeper Arnaud Bodart denied the skipper another goal to follow up his clincher during the 2-0 victory over AFC Bournemouth in Atlanta, Georgia.
Some 83 minutes of football later, and after Fullkrug himself had nearly caught out a dawdling Bodart, it was Bowen’s hassling which again forced an error in possession. Via Aaron Wan-Bissaka, pressing high and backing his team-mate up, and a clever pull-back from Tomas Soucek, the £27 million signing from Borussia Dortmund joined his fellow veteran Olivier Giroud on the scoresheet.
Albeit in far less spectacular fashion.
But, speaking after Alphonse Areola responded to Mads Hermansen’s £18 million arrival with two saves in the resulting penalty shoot-out, Fullkrug singled out Jarrod Bowen for praise once again.
This time, though, West Ham’s number 11 did not go into particularly great detail about his teammate’s sub-zero finishing or his fine link-play, even if he did make reference to the latter.
Niclas Fullkrug applauds the West Ham fans after the game against Tottenham Hotspur in the Premier League
Photo by Rob Newell – CameraSport via Getty Images
Niclas Fullkrug hails Jarrod Bowen work-rate after West Ham United vs Lille
Instead, Fullkrug opted to shift focus towards the work-rate which proved to be the lighting-the-fuse moment for the targetman’s third goal in three successive pre-season matches.
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“I love Jarrod,” the striker beams. “I think you can see the link-up is very good. I try to bring the ball to him in his strongest situation, where he can go one-on-one or go in behind.
“You could see also today, I think there were three or four situations where we linked up very well. He tried to do the same for me.
“Also, when I scored the goal, we worked very well against the ball. That’s also important for strikers. We are the defenders, we recognise it too. It’s very important for the team that the defenders see us [that way].
“We go for the ball, we defend with them and they help us to score goals. I love this guy. He’s my skipper.”
Jarrod Bowen in action during West Ham United v Lille OSC - Pre-Season Friendly
Photo by Jacques Feeney/Offside/Offside via Getty Images
Fullkrug feels team spirit is growing under Graham Potter
With his thousand-watt smile lighting up the training ground in recent weeks, a perma-beaming Niclas Fullkrug was delighted to see El Hadji Malick Diouf arrive from Slavia Prague. Some service, at last, from the flanks.
Robbie Earle, on commentary duty during the 2-1 comeback win over Everton in which Fullkrug scored a ‘ridiculous’ second-half winner, feels the West Ham striker looks ‘leaner, sharper, and [more] focused’ heading into his second season.
The man himself, meanwhile, believes that the team spirit which has become increasingly apparent throughout the summer has been reflected in some promising performances in Switzerland, the USA, and back home in London.
“For us, the most important thing is the team. I think that’s also what changed to the last year,” Fullkrug adds, the tremendous off-the-ball work by Bowen and Wan-Bissaka in West Ham’s equaliser on Saturday a fine example of just that.
“We don’t need to speak so much about players, if I score, if Jarrod scores, if Malick assists. We as a team did a great job, everyone. That’s the most important and that’s what the atmosphere is right now on the team. It helps us to be successful, for sure.
“It was a good day on Saturday. I’m very proud of the team. We did a great job and we never gave up. We had good mentality, good mindset. The players who came on the pitch, they did a good job. They brought new energy on the pitch.
“I’m very happy with the team and what we achieved.
“It was also a tough game against Lille, but I think we are ready for the season and we showed that on Saturday.”