Siewert’s left impressed by West Ham way
Asked how he rates Town’s Premier League opponents today, Siewert answered: “Good team. I would say good team, a strong team – physically strong.
“Large amount of players. I also think that they developed quite well in terms of bringing youth academy players up. A very quick team so it will be interesting to play against them. They have several key players, not just one key player.”
“Big games at home are always different to big games away so we have to face this. It’s like having solutions to how they play at home so we have to find our way, to look at our style.”
Siewert himself has a strong track record of promoting youth.
As head coach of Borussia Dortmund II he was responsible for preparing young talent for the first team and as Town boss he has welcomed academy players Matty Daly, Aaron Rowe and Demeaco Duhaney into senior training and even handed Premier League debuts to the latter two.
Speaking about Town’s commitment to young players, Siewert said: “There are already three in the squad and two already on the pitch.
“This is an interesting thing for me and I gave the comparison to West Ham where there are academy players who are now playing really strongly I would say.
“We have to focus on that and we have to make our minds up about what’s happening within the club, the structure for the future, to look how this club can be, how we could perform, how our playing style is.”
West Ham have a strong tradition of nurturing quality young players, with academy graduates including Frank Lampard, John Terry, Joe Cole, Rio Ferdinand and Michael Carrick. More recently Declan Rice has broken into the first team and quickly established himself as an important player for the club. The 20-year-old has selected England as his national side - after representing Ireland at youth level - and has just been called up to Gareth Southgate’s senior squad for the upcoming Euro 2020 qualifiers.
West Ham manager Manuel Pellegrini said it was a fair reward for his performances at club level. “It was a big decision for him to decide which country he would play for,” said the Chilean coach.
“I think his performances allow him to decide on which international team to play for.”
Town are bottom of the table and although he hasn’t given up on staying in the Premier League, Siewert is looking ahead to next season. He said: “I knew this was a difficult situation and I’m not here as a magician so it’s a long-term view of how can we change it. This is important and to give all the energy which I have in this long term. In the next few games it’s still about finding solutions and to represent the club.”
West Ham are a very quick team so it will be interesting to play
against them