Julen Lopetegui said his West Ham side “deserved” to beat Everton on Saturday in an official West Ham website interview. 

The Hammers were held to a draw with Sean Dyche’s Everton on Saturday afternoon, Crysencio Summerville hit the post, and a fine late save from Jordan Pickford meant the match ended goalless.

Julen Lopetegui said: “We are not happy because we did not win the match.

“Our aim was to win the match and we deserved to win the match – we had enough chances to do so. Pickford was their best player in my opinion. He did three or four saves, very good saves, and we also hit the post.

But I think that despite this, I was not happy with the first half because we can’t [give a] gift to the opponent for 45 minutes. Okay, we defended well but it was not enough. That’s why I was not happy with the first half.

Not because they deserved to win or they had a chance. No, because I think that we didn’t show the energy and the character that we needed.”

The first half was very poor for both teams, neither team had any real urgency to find the back of the net. It was slow and boring from both teams with lots of long balls. The Toffees probably edged the first 45 until Jarrod Bowen went close and was denied by a brilliant save in additional time. It improved for the hosts in the second half but it was still far from impressive.

Lopetegui said: “We did well in the second half we did, but we have to be more consistent. 

The personality and the energy of the team has to there be from the start of the match and we didn’t make the right decisions about our distances to be more aggressive in the press.

We were late [in the press] so I was not happy with this, but I think in the second half we did very well. It was not enough, but we can look at a positive thing – the clean sheet and the chances that we had.

It was always our intention to play as we did in the second half from the start. That’s how we work. 

Okay, it’s true that we don’t have [some of our players] right now. Four players, important players, were out – Mo [Kudus], Edson [Álvarez], [Niclas] Füllkrug and Alphonse [Areola] was not on the bench because he had problems. 

But despite this, I think that the team showed in the second half that there is an opportunity for the other players too and that they took advantage of this opportunity. It was a pity that we didn’t score the goal because we would have liked a fantastic three points for us. But okay, it’s one point. We are looking forward to the next challenge.

We know that with three or four points more we are looking at our position in another way. We have to achieve this consistency and to be able to improve and to look forward with a positive mind.”

It’s safe to say that not many West Ham fans share the same positivity as the former Spain and Real Madrid coach, the boos ringing round the stadium suggested the majority of Hammers fans have had enough of Julen Lopetegui’s football and are ready to see a change.

The International break is an excellent time to bring in a new manager. However, after escaping defeat, he’ll likely be given the week to help turn his fortunes around, but if this form continues with Newcastle and Leicester coming up, Lopetegui won’t have much longer in charge.