In a bid to retain their form, West Ham United have utilised the small break in the Premier League to schedule a mid-season training camp in Dubai. The club has had only one win in 2015 and it came in the 3-0 success over Hull City back in January.
The constant run of draws and defeats has led to West Ham slipping into the bottom half of the table. Even though there is no immediate danger of relegation, West Ham would ideally want to recover form and possibly challenge for the European squads. This is also the ambition of winger Stewart Downing.
Downing has been in impressive form for West Ham this season, but it has not translated into goals of late. He is hoping that the mid-season break and training camp in Dubai will help the players wake up from the slumber. Speculation has been mounting that manager Sam Allardyce could leave the club at the end of the campaign. It was at this stage of last season that similar sort of rumours cropped up. It was largely due to a number of fans complaining about the poor style of football on offer. This time around, it appears that results are not up to the satisfaction.
“I think it’s good for us to get away at this time of year. A lot of countries have a winter break, so a couple of days rest means we can rest, recover and get ready for the next game.I think we needed a break. We had a lot of games with the FA Cup games and obviously the Premier League, so it’s nice to get a couple of days rest and recover for the next one. I hope it will help us to end strongly and do better than we did last year and finish in the top ten if we can,” said Downing.