West Ham goalkeeper Alphonse Areola lifts the lid on the determination at the club to hit the highest standards and the players' ambition to return to European football. Watch West Ham vs Man City live on Sky Sports Premier League from 5pm on Saturday; kick-off 5.30pm
Thursday 29 August 2024 20:49, UK
"If I have to shout at them, I will. And if they have to shout at me, they will. We want everyone to be on their limits and push very hard."
Sat in the sunshine at West Ham's training ground, Alphonse Areola's warm demeanour turns to a steely determination when he's asked about the standards he and his team-mates are trying to set.
"It's all about passion," says the goalkeeper. "When you have that you try to give your best every day."
Areola's relationship with new centre-backs Max Kilman and Jean-Clair Todibo has got off to a positive start, with the former combining with Areola and the rest of the backline to help West Ham record their first clean sheet in 20 attempts in the Premier League victory at Crystal Palace last Saturday.
Todibo's first start for the club brought another shutout on Wednesday night, in front of back-up keeper Lukasz Fabianski, in the Carabao Cup win over Bournemouth.
Kilman "is really calm but when he has to say something he will," says Areola. Todibo is "someone who will shout at you if you're not doing well".
"It's great to have these types of mentalities to move forward and reach the stars," the France international adds with a smile.
Areola - who has played for Paris St-Germain and Real Madrid earlier in his career - welcomes the intensity in training. A 'clean sheet mentality' has to run through the whole group on matchday and beyond.
"It's all about the work we do during the training sessions. We try to replicate what we have to do during the game," he said. "I'd prefer them to shout at me than not saying anything and to stay in the comfort zone. It's all about passion and pushing to the limits."
West Ham are likely to be pushed to those limits on Saturday Night Football when they host Manchester City.
The four-in-a-row Premier League champions will come to the capital for part two of a tough treble of opening home games for West Ham, which included the Hammers' opening weekend loss to Aston Villa and will see them take on Chelsea in east London after the international break.
Areola recognises the enormity of City's achievements in the Premier League over the past four seasons with the insight of a player who has been part of Paris St-Germain's relentless winning machine in France. But he also welcomes the challenge.
"The more difficult thing is to keep that level high and they showed it, they fought for it," he says of City's recent dominance.
"But we have the quality we have in the squad and I think we can compete in this type of game. We will work tactically to try to find some keys to unlock [City].
"We showed it in the last seasons and if we want to reach our objective to be in Europe we have to compete in these types of games.
"It's what we want. When you play in the Premier League you just want big games. We call the Premier League the best league in the world so it's all about that, the teams that can compete and perform like that… we're just looking forward to these types of games.
"As a competitor you want to play in the best competitions. We're not hiding it we want to get back to Europe as soon as possible. We won the Conference League two years ago and we want to taste it again."
With new boss Julen Lopetegui in charge and new signings across the pitch, this new season has brought renewed optimism to West Ham.
"We restarted everything," says Areola. "We've been working hard in pre-season with the new manager, new players. We're feeling great in our minds and physically as well."
Areola departs with a handshake, a big smile and a string of jokes. But when it gets serious on Saturday it's clear the shot-stopper will be ready.
