Jarrod Bowen sends West Ham message after Aston Villa loss as captain labels Julen Lopetegui plans 'exciting' | OneFootball

Hammers sunk at home on opening weekend

Jarrod Bowen is confident West Ham are on the right track under new boss Julen Lopetegui despite their opening-day defeat by Aston Villa.

Lopetegui's reign began with a 2-1 home loss thanks to a late goal from Jhon Duran, who the Spaniard wanted to sign earlier this summer.

West Ham, who fielded five new signings over the 90 minutes, fell behind to a debut goal from Amadou Onana but equalised through Lucas Paqueta's penalty.

They could have snatched a point but Emi Martinez saved a Danny Ings header and Tomas Soucek was also denied at the death.

"It's a really exciting time with the new manager and new ideas," insisted new Hammers captain Bowen, who said the onus is now on the squad to follow through on Lopetegui’s plans.

"There were signs that there were things that were clicking and coming into play. Now it's down to us to show it.

"There are positives there to take for sure, but we're in a results business. We've lost the game and we're disappointed with that."

Villa boss Unai Emery believes the impact of his players from the bench bodes well for what promises to be a long season including a Champions League campaign. Duran's winner was set up by fellow substitutes Ian Maatsen and Jacob Ramsey.

"Young players with potential," Emery said. "We finished with Jaden (Philogene), Morgan (Rogers), Ramsey, even Ian Maatsen. Very young players.

"It's very important their wish is to help and be ready to play and to perform like they did. There were different circumstances with the players because Jacob Ramsey was back after a long time not playing.

"He started on the bench but usually he will play a lot of minutes in the starting XI. This is the first step I want to do here: try to be competitive in the squad with the players we have and be ready for a long season in Premier League and Champions League and different cups."