David Moyes has given his verdict on West Ham’s one-nil win over Brentford on Saturday afternoon.

Speaking the press post-match Moyes explain his views on the overall performance of his team saying:

“Quite good in the first half, I thought we did some good stuff. Pleased because we are not at full tilt yet but we are getting there, we came here and saw this as being a really tough game, probably tougher than even the game last week at Celtic and it proved to be but I am pleased we got a result.”

“The second half I decided we were going to make a few changes but we did not have many subs and quite a few of the subs today had played last night for the Under-23s so it meant that I did not really have many options.

“But I wanted to give the players as close to 90 minutes [as possible] instead of messing them around as I think the feeling of having the minutes before the season starts is good. Overall glad to get them back in and get the players some minutes, the clean sheet was good but again it will be the season that really matters and we want to keep clean sheets then.”

Asked about the Hammers unbeaten run pre-season racking up a fourth consecutive win the gaffer said results in pre-season were not important and no one should get too carried away with the results suggesting it doesn’t mean very much.

The 58-year-old added “We have to try and build a better team. I want to try and build a better club, everything to do with it and the way to do it is to win, and that gives us a chance to keep it going.”

Asked about his final pre-seaosn friendly next weekend in the London Stadium against Atalanta in the Betway cup the gaffer added:

“We are looking forward to it and we hope they are looking forward to seeing a new positive West Ham team.”

West Ham Pre-season friendly results:

Dundee United 2 West Ham United 2

Northampton Town 1 West Ham United 2

Leyton Orient o West Ham United 0

Reading 0  West Ham 3

Celtic 2  West Ham United 6

David Moyes was delighted with Said Benrahma this afternoon on his return to his old club.

Speaking to reporters post-match the 58-year-old Hammers manager spoke of his wonder goal at the Brentford Community Stadium  “Yeah, it was good, he has been waiting on that one for a year and we have as well. He practices it a lot and today he hit the target and maybe fitting that he did it here.”

Reminded that Benny also scored a goal in the pre-season friendly against Celtic last week Moyes replied “Yeah, we have a lot of hope he will find his goalscoring touch and assists and a bit to do with his game. We want good competition and hopefully, we have lots of players threatening to score goals this season.”

Benrahma joined from Brentford last year on a combined fee of £25m with an initial £4.25m loan fee followed by a £20.75m permanent transfer fee once conditions were met on the obligation to buy clause within the loan contract.

Hammer Aaron Cresswell gave BT Sport viewers a big hint that more new additions are yet to come.   He teased viewers by saying he was sure there will be a few more new players in addition to goalkeeper Alphonse Areola who signed earlier this week from PSG on loan.

It is believed David Moyes and David Sullivan are actively working on deals for a centre back, a striker and an attacking midfielder as they work against the clock to get their transfer business done before the end of August.”

Aaron Cresswell told BT Sports. ‘It’s not really down to us but I’m sure there’ll be a few players coming in before all that starts, I’m looking forward to it and the lads we had out there today worked hard, put a good shift in and it was a good win.

“We were missing five or six big players who were massive for us last year. They’ve been playing in the Euros so it’ll be good to welcome them back this week. We’ve got two weeks to go now, so I’m looking forward to it.”

Speaking about his teammate Said Benrahama Cressy added  “In spells he’s fantastic and that’s Said all over, to get in that position is exactly where we want him, to get it on that right foot. He’s done that plenty of times in training and I’m sure he’ll do it again.”

Saïd Benrahma’ amazing goal on his return to Brentford was the decider on Saturday afternoon at the Brentford Community Stadium.

The game was watched by 500 Hammers fans who made the journey to West London for the clash with the Premier League newcomers.

Michail Antonio had the ball in the net in the first half, thumping home from close range after Benrahma cut back a deep free-kick. An offside flag cut shot any celebrations, however, and 0-0 was how it remained going into halftime.

The Hammers took the lead midway through the half thanks to a moment of class from Benrahma.

The Algerian had one thing on his mind when he received possession 25 yards out, taking a touch to create space for the shot, which he bent over goalkeeper David Raya’s dive and into the top right-hand corner.  He showed most class by refusing to celebrate against his former club.

Brentford’s Shannon Baptiste hit the post five minutes later, smashing a shot from the edge of the box against the upright with Fabiański helpless.

Antonio also fired wide on the break as both teams continued to push, but it was Benrahma’s sublime goal that proved to be the difference.

West Ham remains unbeaten in their pre-season friendlies with the Betway cup at the London Stadium their final test next weekend.

The final score was Brentford 0 West Ham United 1

West Ham United: Fabiański, Fredericks, Dawson, Diop, Cresswell, Lanzini, Coventry, Johnson (Noble 46), Fornals, Benrahma, Antonio
Subs: Randolph, Martin, Baptiste, Alves, Forson, Okoflex

Goal: Benrahma 66

Saïd Benrahma with a stunner against his former side! 🔥

Brentford lose possession in a dangerous position and the West Ham man is on hand to curl the ball into the top corner 🎯 pic.twitter.com/86Nxz5WD8z

— Football on BT Sport (@btsportfootball) July 31, 2021

West Ham TV presenter Holly Worthington has written a balanced article on PAI Capital.

The West Ham fan and former Miss England finalist asks some very good questions in the article on her own blog called Hollseey.com

Holly asks:

How transferrable is their expertise to running a football club?

With their skills lying within financial services, healthcare, retail and technology sectors, it’s a big difference to running a football club. While Beard has experience in a football environment, he also resigned with QPR 17^th in the Premier League (as well as facing FFP issues).

How will PAI Capital improve the experience for fans and visitors to the stadium?

While this has been mentioned as their goal, it would be interesting to see what this entails. It first relies on buying the stadium and then would depend on which changes that they intend to make. There has also been talk of using ‘West Ham legends and prominent personalities in sport’ to help the club’s development, however the role they will play is unclear.

Where is the money coming from and what role does everyone have?

While PAI Capital manage clients’ assets, this is not their money. It is their client’s money that they invest with the goal of making profit. As such, any money invested will be done with the goal of making a profit for their investors. This means we don’t know how much of the proposed £500 million is owned by which parties, which could play a part in determining how many decision-makers are required to work together.

How much reinvestment will there be?

This is the key question. Realistically, no takeover bid is done with the purest intentions, particularly for a consortium, and it will be seen as a money-making investment by the potential new owner/s. The real question lies within their ability to spend money upfront and willingness to sacrifice profit at the beginning to get the club into a more profitable position. Buying the stadium itself will put them into debt, meaning this must be recovered but not at the expense of club performance. If it’s their clients’ money being invested, they will have to deliver profit, meaning the club could be the second priority when it comes to funding.

How much would they change the stadium?

Anybody that has been to the London Stadium can see that improvements need to be made. The changes needed to make fans happy would be significant, however, the ability to do this structurally, as well as the cost associated with this could limit PAI Capital’s ability to make fast changes.

You can read Holly’s full article at https://hollseey.com/2021/07/30/everything-you-need-to-know-about-pai-capital/

The Hammers have been linked with a potential swoop to sign Lukas Masopust from Slavia Prague.

We know the Irons have forged an excellent relationship with the Czech club over recent seasons and have brought in both Tomas Soucek and Vlad Coufal from the club.

90min now reports that they are considering a swoop for Masopust, a team-mate of the Hammers pair at the Czech Republic.

The 28-year-old plays primarily as a right winger and made 45 appearances for the club last season, scoring twice and registering seven assists.

Masopust also played in every game the Czechs played in at Euro 2020, as they reached the quarter-finals.

The winger has a contract that expires in 2023 and there is plenty of competition to sign him, with Leicester, Watford, Brighton, Newcastle, Wolves and Crystal Palace also said to have been contacted with the potential of bringing him to the Premier League.

He is valued at £3.15m by Transfermarkt.

West Ham have gone strong for the pre-season friendly against Brentford on Saturday.

The Irons are taking on Premier League opposition as they continue their preparation for the new season. 

So it should be no surprise that David Moyes has decided to name a strong team that could easily play in the opening game of the season against Newcastle at St James’ Park.

Despite the loan signing of Alphonse Areola earlier this week, he has not made the squad, with Lukasz Fabianski in goal.

Ryan Fredericks, Issa Diop, Craig Dawson, Aaron Cresswell, and Ben Johnson make up the defence, with Manuel Lanzini, Conor Coventry, Said Benrahma and Pablo Fornals in midfield and Mikey Antonio up front.

Darren Randolph, David Martin, Frederik Alves, Jamal Baptiste, Keenan Forson, Mark Noble and Armstrong Oko-Flex make up the bench.

The Hammers will be out to continue their superb record in pre-season, with the club yet to taste defeat and beating Celtic 6-2 in their most recent outing.

West Ham are interested in a deal to sign Lewis Leigh from Preston North End, according to Football.London.

Leigh is just 17 and he has yet to sign a professional contract at Preston, but he has been involved in the majority of their pre-season friendlies.

He was released by Liverpool when he was 14 but has been with Preston since.

And he is now being monitored by a variety of Premier League clubs, with the Irons joined by Arsenal, Leicester, and Everton in the hunt.

Leigh has yet to make his first-team debut in senior competition and he is expected to be offered a new contract by Preston as they bid to tie him down.

He only has one year left on his scholarship deal so if he did make a move this summer, the buying club would owe Preston a compensation fee rather than a transfer fee.

Keep an eye on this one, as a result.

Winston Reid has returned to fitness and has been named in the starting line-up for New Zealand against Japan.

The defender sustained an injury in the group stages and there were fears over his fitness.

However, he will be in the backline for the quarter-finals of the Olympics, New Zealand’s first game in the knockout stages at the competition.

It will be a boost to David Moyes, particularly in terms of potentially raising funds to strengthen the squad.

Reid is not in the manager’s plans for the new campaign, despite the fact that the Irons have yet to bring in a new central defender this summer, despite it being on the agenda.

Reid spent last season on loan at Brentford and there is a hope that he will move on this summer for a fee.

The defender’s current contract does not expire until 2023, but he will surely want to play first-team football, something that is not on offer in east London at this stage.