West Ham defender, Emerson Palmieri has praised his teammates for delivering a “good” pre-season friendly win against Perth Glory.
Emerson headed in West Ham’s fourth goal in a 6-2 friendly win away to Perth Glory as the Hammers continued their unbeaten start to pre-season, having hammered Boreham Wood 4-1 last Monday (10 July) evening.
“It was a long trip to come here, but it’s always a pleasure to come here in Australia,” quipped Emerson, who had previously played against Glory with Chelsea in a 1-0 win in July 2018. “It’s my second time here and it’s good.”
The left-back went on to praise the fans who had travelled Down Under for their lively atmosphere as he commented: “It’s incredible to come here in Australia and see our fans in the stadium. It’s always nice and of course, after the final and winning the trophy, to play in front of them and we are happy with this.”
“When you win, there is always a good atmosphere inside the dressing room and inside the Club and our connection with the fans,” continued Emerson.
Reflecting upon the match itself, Emerson felt that the game and result were “good” with a strong performance but iterated that there is still progress to make, as he said: “We are in the pre-season and we have to work a lot, but it’s a good start for us.”
Emerson delivered an impressive performance on the left flank and even headed in West Ham’s fourth goal from Jarrod Bowen’s inswinging cross, but the Brazilian praised Bowen for his goal.
“In the second half I got more to the front and Jarrod put a lovely ball in, an incredible ball, and it was a simple one to head!” joked Emerson as he applauded Bowen who has scored three goals in two pre-season friendlies.
Many West Ham supporters thought Emerson had deserved Man of the Match for his performance in last month’s Europa Conference League Final triumph, but he was happy that Bowen was handed the award instead.
“I just want to say thank you to everyone, as I just wanted to put my best on the pitch as everyone does when they play in a final,” explained Emerson.
Emerson however admitted that his sole focus was solely on winning the Final as he concluded: “We needed to win the final, so I played with this mentality and I’m happy with what I did and what the team did.
“Of course, we won, and when you see the trophy you forget everything, including your performance, because you are just proud of the team and of making history.”
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