West Ham’s Michail Antonio has urged the fans to show patience after a rocky start to the season under new boss Julen Lopetegui.
The former Wolves coach became the first man in Hammers history to lose his first three home Premier League games, and his side have collected just five points from their opening six games, leaving them 14th as things stand and just two points above the relegation zone.
But West Ham’s Premier League record scorer has revealed he can already see improvements, and is sure that results will come.
“One thing I’ve realised with this club is that the fans demand a lot,’ Antonio said. “They always want us to win every single game and that’s understandable.
“But where we are right now, with the transition stage that we’re going through, learning a completely different style of football, there’s going to be shaky moments and we’re in those shaky moments now.
“What we’ve learned over the last four years playing under David Moyes, he (Lopetegui) wants to play a completely different structure.
“We want to play more expansive, we want to keep the ball more. Because we’ve been playing a certain way for so long, learning something new is not just going to happen overnight. You can see a lot of positives in the games that we have been playing.
“If it was all negatives then I would understand why people would get frustrated. But right now, I think there’s so many positives that are coming from the games. If you give us a bit of patience and a bit of time, things will come good and we will be pushing for the top again.”
West Ham fans will see that patience put to the test when they face Ipswich Town, currently a point and a place below them, on Saturday afternoon.