Pablo Zabaleta was delighted to make his debut for West Ham against Sturm Graz - and equally happy that the team came through the game without any injuries.
West Ham's only confirmed signing of pre-season thus far insisted that despite failing to score against the Austrian reserve IX, it has been a productive evening for the Hammers."It was a shame not to win the game as you always want a victory, but of course the main thing is to get the minutes," he told West Ham's website. "That was our first 45 minutes after 10 days of hard work, and it was good for the team to build up the fitness levels.
"The game was good, obviously we didn’t score but we created a few good chances and their goalkeeper was fantastic.
"It is early days, we have got plenty of time to keep working and be more focused on tactics. We have another game on Thursday against Fulham, and it will be a good test for us to keep improving as a team and increase the confidence."
Zabaleta also revealed that he hoped the club to add further players to the squad imminently - giving them a better chance of getting the new campaign off to a positive start.
"Hopefully we can bring in a few more players to improve the squad," he said. "There are still a few to come back soon from injury, so we all aim to be at 100 per cent for the start of the season.
"But I’m really enjoying myself - all the lads are fantastic, every single person around the Club has been great, so I’m very pleased and can’t wait for the start of the season."
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