FAB FEELING
Lukasz: Been a dream run, but it’s all down to hard work... not magic
IF you had said to Lukasz Fabianski at the start of the season that West Ham would be challenging for a Champions League ticket with four games to go, he would never have believed you.
David Moyes’ Hammers are chasing down Chelsea and Leicester for a top-four spot.
The West Ham No.1 admitted: “Probably I would have smiled and I wouldn’t really have believed it might happen.
“But we have been able to put ourselves in this really good position, so it’s nice to have this.
“I don’t remember having a conversation with anyone about us being in this position at the start of the season.
“So maybe in the future that’s going to happen and we’ll see how we are going to react.
“But I would probably have smiled and just thought, ‘We’ll see’.”
It is a far cry from the end of last season, when Moyes’ men were battling against relegation.
But Fabianski, whose side take on eighth-placed Everton today, is adamant there has been no magic formula.
He added: “I don’t think there’s anything magic about it, it’s basically about really working hard.
“The first very important thing was staying in the Premier League last season after the lockdown.
“And I remember when we were training in lockdown, everyone was doing things on their own, and when we returned to the training ground, the manager was very impressed that everyone returned at such a good physical level, which always felt like it was going to be tricky.
“We put ourselves in a strong physical position to give ourselves a chance to deliver good performances out there on the pitch.
“Once you start getting good results, your confidence grows a little bit more and you find yourself climbing up the table and getting results against good teams.
“If you looked at our fixtures for the start of the season, you would say we might get one or two points.
“But we managed to beat Wolves, Leicester away, we had a draw against Manchester City, a draw against Spurs... so sometimes you can compete because you are on a good level, not only physically but when it comes to football as well.
“That has been something that really helped us develop as a team and find ourselves at this present moment.”
Fabianski’s five-year-old son, Jan, helped keep him sharp during lockdown in the family’s back garden.
“My son was shooting at me with very light balls,” added the Pole.
“They moved all over the place, which was a bit of fun.
“At the same time it was nice because he really got crazy about football. It helped both of us.”
Someone else who has helped Fabianski and his team-mates is boss Moyes, with West Ham responding to his older-school methods.
Fabianski added: “He has been massive, probably the most important person at the club with the way he prepares us.
“When it comes to us performing as a team and the mental side of the game, he has been very demanding.
“I remember the first meeting that happened with him when he came back to the club.
“He said, ‘Once I stop shouting at you, that means I don’t care about you anymore’.
“We all understood the message, we all took it on board and pushed on.”