Julen Lopetegui says West Ham’s 1-0 win against Southampton was a good effort given the circumstances.

Despite winning the match, West Ham fans walked away from St Mary’s frustrated. The performance was absolutely abysmal, and the hosts dominated despite having just 7 points to their name.

However, Julen Lopetegui has put this down largely to the injuries they sustained. “We knew this challenge was very, very tough for a lot of reasons,” he stated.

“They have a new coach, one good team and they showed this against Fulham. They have a new set up and big energy and marking man to man.”

“In these kinds of matches, if you are not right tactically and if and you don’t have the right mentality, normally you lose. That’s why I highlight the mentality that we started with. We had very two clear chances, but unfortunately, we didn’t score. We were very close, first with Carlos Soler and the other with Jarrod Bowen.”

“After they had a good moment, they had two or three clear chances, but they didn’t score. Unfortunately, we started having problems with injuries, with Maximilian Kilman and with Łukasz Fabiański. Fortunately, Łukasz is conscious and he’s well now in the dressing room, which is the most important thing. With Max Kilman, we have to wait, but I am not optimistic with him.”

“After, we had one problem with Carlos Soler, too, in the half, so we had to change him [at half-time], so I think that we had a lot of problems today.”

The Spaniard has praised the substitutes performance as well as the team’s mentality, but he hinted that fans must back the squad if they are to beat Liverpool. “This is West Ham United. I think that I need to highlight this, as the support of the fans has been incredible and we work for them.”

“We are happy for them, and today we are happy because of the commitment of the players. They deserve this. We got three points, not more, so now we have to look forward to the next challenge.”