13 November 2020

West Ham defender Laura Vetterlein wants team to push on from Birmingham victory

West Ham defender Laura Vetterlein has challenged her side to build on their first Women’s Super League victory of the season at Birmingham last weekend.

The win moved the Hammers up to ninth in the table and they now have the opportunity to climb as high as seventh with a victory over Brighton on Women’s Football Weekend.

Defender Vetterlein joined West Ham in 2019 from German side SC Sand

(PA)

And while it has been a difficult start for everyone at West Ham - particularly after their humiliating 9-1 defeat to Arsenal back in September - Vetterlein remains upbeat about how they have played so far.

"I think there have been positives in every game we’ve played," she told the club website.

"We were unlucky at times, because I think we’ve played good football, but the problem was we couldn’t score from the chances we’d created or find the consistency we needed over 90 minutes. That can kill you in games and, in this league, any mistakes are punished.  

"We have to focus on ourselves and stay positive. We showed against Reading last week that we have the quality to take our chances and beat teams, and we showed a lot of resilience to beat Birmingham City too. We need to keep our good form going now.

"There’s a good mix, in this squad, of experienced players and talented, young players who are willing to learn. For us now, it’s about linking that together on the pitch. We will see that continue to improve and progress over the season, and it will help us to only get better on the pitch and achieve success."

Both West Ham and Brighton have won just one of their first six WSL games, with the Seagulls sitting just a point above the East London side.

But Vetterlein does not feel it is helpful to look at the table at this stage of the campaign, instead believing it is more conducive to take each match on its own merits.

"I’m not a big fan of looking at table positions or coming up with points targets, because there are so many other influences and variables that can make that up. I just want to focus on each game as it comes," she added.

"Focus on the next game, the next opponent, see what comes out of it and then go again. I don’t think it helps anyone to set some number because it can lead to frustrations. I just want to focus on the next game.  

"If we play our best football, the wins will come. And I’m really convinced that, when we’re all at 100 per cent, we will win more games than we don’t."

West Ham travel to Brighton on Sunday, with the match scheduled to kick off at 12:30pm GMT.

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