West Ham are a completely new-look side since Pellegrini took over.
New West Ham United signing Ryan Fredericks has told the club’s official website that Manuel Pellegrini’s defensive training sessions are already paying dividends, as the club look to stem the flow of goals.
West Ham conceded the joint-highest amount of goals in England’s top flight last season, seeing 68 goals fly past Adrian and Joe Hart during their 38 Premier League games – level only with relegated Stoke City.
It has since seen new manager Pellegrini bring in goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski, Issa Diop, Fabien Balbuena and Fredericks in a bid to sure up his defence.
The former Tottenham and Fulham right-back believes the work on the training ground under the ex-Man City boss is working, but the 25-year-old believes that the club still need to cut out some silly mistakes.
“We’re working on a lot of things in training defensive-wise,” Fredericks said. “It’s different to what any of the lads have done before, but I can see on the pitch that it’s working already.
“There are a few little things that we’ve got to get used to, but we’re not conceding chances every five or ten minutes.
“We’re looking a lot more solid and I think, if we cut out some of the silly mistakes, we’re going to be a much more solid team and harder to break down.”
Fredericks joined on a free from Fulham as Pellegrini’s first signing, despite helping the west London outfit gain promotion to the Premier League via the Championship play-offs.
It remains to be seen if he will be the club’s first-choice right-back or Pellegrini will place his faith in Pablo Zabaleta. Though, if the Hammers use a three-man defence again this term, Zabaleta could be used on the right of the three.
The Hammers still have Aston Villa and Ipswich Town to face in pre-season, before their first Premier League fixture of the season sees them travel to Anfield to face Liverpool.
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