Neil McDonald believes there have been plenty of encouraging signs from the first week of West Ham training in Austria.
Trio progressing well; Allardyce working on transfers
Neil McDonald believes there have been plenty of encouraging signs from the first week of West Ham training in Austria, while Sam Allardyce stayed behind to work on transfers.
The Hammers lost 3-1 to Austria Vienna on Saturday as they failed to build on the lead given to them by Sam Baldock's header after four minutes.
Jack Collison and Joey O'Brien missed the game as they have been on special individual training programmes due to the long-term knee injuries they suffered earlier in their careers.
Carlton Cole was also taken off after 25 minutes as the medical staff continue to manage his own well-documented knee issue.
While the trio could not play a full part in the game, assistant manager McDonald believes it was still useful for them to be present for the whole week in Austria.
"The majority of the senior staff are here so, even though they were never going to play or be involved in the first game, it was important for them to come with the lads and do all the training sessions," he told the club's
official website.
"They've got through all that so they'll be ready to move on to the next stage when we go back home."
Stern test
McDonald added: "We said before the game that it was all about improving our fitness and getting our endurance up and a lot of them played 45 minutes-plus so it finished off a good week, even though we got beaten 3-1.
"The positives are that we've had a good week's training and a stern test because they are three weeks ahead of us - they start in two weeks' time so they were always going to be a lot brighter and a lot fitter and fresher.
"The lads have done what they were asked to do, considering that was their first week.
"There are plenty of positives from a very, very good week in Austria."
The Hammers return home to face Boreham Wood on Tuesday as they step up their preparations for the new season, and Allardyce has been working hard to try and strengthen his squad.
McDonald explained: "That was the reason Sam didn't come. He's been very busy over the summer.
"He's been on the phone trying to get deals done and I'm sure he'll be trying even harder in the next few weeks to try and freshen the squad up because we need competition for every place in the line-up."
