Ole Alexander Saue gauges the opinion of the Hammers hero.
West Ham’s Development Squad, coached by Terry Westley, extended their unbeaten run to 14 games as they drew 1-1 against Blackburn Rovers on home turf Monday night.
Hammers legend and now first team asisstant, Julian Dicks, is impressed with the progression he has seen at Rush Green Stadium the last couple of months.
Dicks told Rising East: “Westley has done a good job. But this is just about developing young players. Of course you want to win games, but the most important is players expressing themselves and developing.”
The 47-year-old believes confidence has been the key in order to get the youngsters back to winning ways.
“He has given them a lot of confidence, and players are doing well on loan as well. It’s all about giving them confidence and letting them play at this stage, he continued.
Dicks thinks the team is missing their biggest talents, who are either out on loan, or busy playing for the first team.
“Josh Cullen and Reece Oxford have impressed me a lot. Obviously Oxford has played for the first team as well, but both are very good players. And then we have Martin Samuelsen on loan at Peterborough.
“These are three players that have been missing. But at this stage, it’s all about progressing and playing first team football.”
Reflecting on the 1-1 draw against Blackburn Rovers after an early Rovers goal by Anton Forrester and a Sam Ford equalizer, Dicks says:
“Yeah, it’s a fair result. It wasn’t the best of games, but the boys worked hard.”