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West Ham news: Pablo Zabaleta issues demand to Hammers team-mates after nightmare start
WEST HAM defender Pablo Zabaleta has warned his team-mates their mental approach to games is preventing them from succeeding.
The Hammers lost their two opening games of the Premier League season against Liverpool and Bournemouth respectively.
They will be eager to bounce back at the weekend when they take on Arsenal, with both sides looking to get their first points of the campaign on the board.
Zabaleta has explained what he believes West Ham need to do in order to return to winning ways.
“Psychologically we need to change a bit as a team,” Zabaleta said.
Psychologically we need to change a bit as a team. We cannot be afraid when we are winning
"We cannot be afraid when we are winning.
“As a team, we need to improve – but it’s not about individual players or mistakes, we need to get on with it together."
West Ham’s new manager Manuel Pellegrini had a busy summer with club opening the purse strings and spent £100m bringing in nine players.
Zabaleta, who was part of Pellegrini’s Premier League title-winning side at Manchester City four years ago, is concerned familiar mistakes are hampering the Hammers' development.
“We cannot put ourselves in a situation where we don’t believe in what we are doing,” Zabaleta said.
“As players, we need to take responsibility because on the pitch, we make the decisions.
“We have a new manager, new players and a new style of football.
“It takes time. But we’ve got so much room for improvement.”
Manuel Pellegrini: We are trying to build a strong squad
Pellegrini has urged fans and players to forget about last year's disastrous campaign, which saw the club finish 11th in the Premier League and only 11 points above the relegation zone.
“I am disappointed because we conceded four goals in the first game and two goals in the second game, so we need to defend better as a team,” he said.
“We knew before the start of the season that we would have a difficult start, because we have bought nine new players and because we have to play against the four big teams in the first seven rounds, but we need to continue working and continue trusting in what we do,
“In football, you never know how long it will take, but I know it takes time when you bring so many players to get to know each other.
“Probably the most important thing is that they recover the trust in what they are doing and play like we did in the first 45 minutes.”
Pellegrini’s disappointment was echoed by new signing Jack Wilshere, who took to Twitter to express that he was “not happy” with the 2-1 defeat to Bournemouth.
“Happy to make my home debut but not happy with the result,” Wilshere said.
“Tough game for us this weekend but we have a week of hard work and preparation in front of us.”