Julen Lopetegui isn’t getting carried away despite a ‘special’ win against Manchester United on Sunday but was happy to overcome ‘the bad moments’ in the match.
West Ham manager Julen Lopetegui believes the 2-1 home in over Manchester United can act as a springboard for his team as we head into the crucial winter months.
The Spaniard said: “It’s always important to win for us, for the players, for the Club and above all for our fans.
“This kind of victory against this kind of team is always special. In the end, there are three points more, but it always means more things for the confidence of the players too [to win late on like this]. We were able to overcome bad moments in the first half and were able to keep a positive and good mentality.”
The Hammers turned their fortunes around after a very poor first-half performance, where they could’ve found themselves multiple goals down. The visitors were guilty of missing a whole host of chances in the first period.
Alejandro Garnacho and Christian Eriksen hit the bar, Diego Dalot failed to hit the target with a shot that looked harder to miss and Casemiro forced a fine save from Łukasz Fabiański
However, the game changed at half-time. The Hammers made two changes bringing Tomas Soucek and Crysencio Summerville on for Paqueta and Soler in attack. Jean-Clair Todibo replaced Mavropanos at the back which really helped sure up the defence.
On the changes, Lopetegui said: “In the first half, it was important that we kept a clean sheet. Obviously, there were some good moments from our goalkeeper, from the defenders and some luck, but 0-0 at half-time, it was a good way to move on.
“I was thinking that maybe we could change a few different things [at half-time]. We had two players with a yellow card (Dinos Mavropanos and Lucas Paquetá, who were both replaced). We needed to win more individual fights.
We needed to be more aggressive with our ball. We needed to be more dangerous in [attack]. So, that’s why we were thinking about Crysencio in the second half and we put on Tomáš [Souček] and JC [Todibo] too. They did well, but it’s about all the team, so we are happy for them. The mental approach of the players, taking the ball, taking the game to United.”
Summerville linked up with fellow substitute Danny Ings to break the deadlock sixteen minutes from time. However, they were pegged back by a Casemiro goal. The Hammers were then awarded a controversial late penalty for a foul on Danny Ings, which Jarrod Bowen converted expertly to earn West Ham all three points.
“I have to review the match, but I think that we did well in the second half. We had the opportunity to score the third goal and the second goal before. Very clear [opportunities].
“It’s true that there were other moments in the match. Unfortunately, we suffered one goal again, but after this goal, we kept a good mentality. I am happy for this. Sometimes it happens that we go down after one goal and we have to… this is the Premier League.
“The Premier League doesn’t allow you to win matches if you are not able to compete until the end and to overcome bad moments. You have to keep this mentality and be stronger and stronger, always.”
The Hammers will look to build on this huge result next weekend as they face a difficult trip to the City Ground to face a high-flying Nottingham Forest side.