Irons must have more Bal control

FABIAN BALBUENA has ordered his new West Ham team-mates to start taking control of their matches.

The Hammers have lost all four fixtures in a miserable start to the Premier League campaign.

They have been beaten by Liverpool, Bournemouth and Arsenal and, in their last outing before the international break, by newly-promoted Wolves.

Those four defeats have not made life easy for new boss Manuel Pellegrini and a revamped squad on which £100million was lavished in the summer.

And the losing streak is the last thing they need ahead of a trip to Everton today – with home games coming up against Chelsea and Manchester United.

Paraguayan Balbuena (below), one of 10 new boys brought to the London Stadium, in a £3.5m move from Brazilian side Corinthians, is well aware that things could get worse — much worse — before they get better.

He said: “We are not being able to have the possession we’d want to and we need to be better at that.

“If we do get it, then we will have more chances to manage the flow of the game and be more dangerous.

“These first few months working with Manuel Pellegrini have been very good. We are still learning from his experience.

“Those of us who remained during the international break have been working during the week to get a victory against Everton.”

Balbuena is expecting a real battle against an Everton side that, in contrast to the Hammers, are unbeaten, albeit having won just one and drawn three.

But he added: “I have seen several of their matches, they have started well.”

Boss Pellegrini agrees with Balbuena’s assessment that the Hammers are letting teams dominate them too easily.

Pellegrini said: “We are losing too many balls — good possession allows you to rest, and the physical work allows you to create space more.

“In defending, we are improving a lot, if you compare the first game against Liverpool to the last, we are improving.”

Asked about Balbuena, the Chilean said: “He was one of the players I asked to bring here from the biggest team in Brazil and he knows what it is like when you have to win – that is very important for me.”