Interviews

Maupay: The players are on the same page

Frenchman says rich form down to good squad harmony.

By Charlie Hanson • 19 September 2021

By Bennett Dean
Neal Maupay celebrates opening the scoring against Leicester, having fired in from the penalty spot.

Neal Maupay thinks Albion's impressive start to the campaign reflects the togetherness in the squad.

The 25-year-old has three goals in five games, but was keen to play down his good start to the season after scoring in Sunday's 2-1 win over Leicester City.

He said, “I don't want to talk about the goals because you can start the season well and then you can struggle with confidence or you can get injured. As a striker it’s hard to be consistent throughout the season, so I just take it game by game. I am happy with where we are as a team, but there is a lot more to come and we can improve.

“It was such a tough game against Leicester especially the last 25 minutes when we suffered a lot. We conceded two disallowed goals and were a bit lucky at times, but that’s what it takes to win a game sometimes.

“I thought in the first half our plan was clear and we played really well on the ball and off it, we caused them some problems and I thought we deserved to be 2-0 up.

“They made some changes, changed their mentality, pressed us more and in the end we had to suffer, but we were really good as a team.”

Albion now find themselves third and while Maupay isn’t getting carried away he believes their excellent start is reward for hard work since Potter arrived.

“It’s a process to build a team. Two years ago when the manager arrived he brought in a few new players, me included. We have added some new players and now we’re all on the same page.

By Paul Hazlewood
Neal Maupay and Danny Welbeck scored the goals to ensure Albion took home all three points.

“We’re improving, but we’re only five games into the season so we can’t be too excited or too happy as we’ve got 33 games left. There’s a lot of work to do.”

Maupay and his teammates are next in Premier League action next Monday away to Crystal Palace.

“It’s a big derby. It’s one game we want to do well in. I have been lucky enough to play in it and score, just before the pandemic. That was a great memory for me, but we didn’t win. Hopefully this time we can get a bit more, but they have got good players.

“In the Premier League anything can happen so we need to rest and be ready for our cup game on Wednesday and then we look ahead to Palace.”

By Paul Hazlewood
Neal Maupay scored in the 1-1 draw with Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park in December 2019.