West Ham defender Emerson has praised the new arrivals this summer and feels that the performance levels have gone up this season.
Our Hammers left-back, who has firmly cemented himself into that position under David Moyes following some outstanding individual displays, has been highly impressed by the impacts made by James Ward-Prowse and Edson Alvarez.
Emerson, who was speaking to the clubs Official Website, has spoken of the impact that the new players have made on the rest of the group, with a widespread feeling that the team are in much better shape overall this year compared to last.
“With these new guys, and with the other midfielders too, we’ve got some good players in the middle,” said the Irons defender. “They are good players and the two new signings bring quality as well, so it’s good depth in that area.
“When new players arrive in the squad, they want to show their quality. So the levels start to go up across the team. We start to see that mentality and we want to go with them. They help us and we help them. It’s a good connection. The last couple of weeks have been really good and we want to keep playing well.”
Emerson gave individual praise to both Ward-Prowse and Alvarez, even going as far as describing the latter as an ‘animal’ on the pitch – which will be music to us fans ears.
“James has been helping us a lot, with his set-pieces and his all-round game,” added Emerson. “He’s a quality player and we’re happy with him. He played a big role today and I’m sure he will throughout the season. He’s showed in training, and in both games, that he is a quality player. He has so much intelligence with the ball.
“Edson is a more defensive player. He’s an animal. He is a hard worker and, in the game, you can see him moving. He’s unbelievable because he runs for everyone.
“He’s an animal because, in training and in the warm-ups, he’s like he’s in the games. He wants to put in 100 per cent all the time. When you have a guy like this, who wants to fight and run for everyone, it makes it something that everyone wants to do. He’s our teammate and when Álvarez does these things, we want to do it too.”
