Manuel Pellegrini was heartened by his West Ham United team’s willingness to fight until the end of Saturday’s 3-2 Premier League defeat by Tottenham Hotspur at London Stadium.
The Hammers held their own for 36 minutes in Jose Mourinho’s first game in charge of the visitors, only to concede twice before half-time to Heung-min Son and Lucas Moura.
Harry Kane’s header seemingly put the game beyond the Irons shortly after the break, before consolation strikes from the returning Michail Antonio and Angelo Ogbonna gave the final score an air of respectability.
We are losing too many goals but as least we never gave up and we fought to the end to change the result, but it was not enough
Manuel Pellegrini
“There is frustration because we could not win again here in another home game and it was a derby match against Tottenham that we wanted to win for our fans, but we couldn’t,” said the manager. “We saw that the players are playing under big pressure and they could not do what they want to do. We are losing too many goals but as least we never gave up and we fought to the end to change the result, but it was not enough.
“I think until minute 25 it was a tight game and neither us nor they had any chances to score. After that, when they scored the first goal, we were behind in the score and maybe the second they scored finished the game.
“But, I repeat, in the second half we tried to continue doing things, but you can see that the pressure to get the result was too big.”
With just two points from a possible 21, parts of the Claret and Blue Army shared their frustration at London Stadium – a reaction Pellegrini accepted.
“Of course, supporters want results and they’ve always been behind us,” he continued. “This stadium has always been full and I said when I arrived here we wanted to help the team grow one step more and we started to work.
“Now, when things are bad and we are not winning then of course they must have that reaction because there are too many games at home that we have not won.”
One positive on an otherwise disappointing day was the return of Antonio, who added purpose, strength and a goal to the forward line in an impressive 45-minute performance off the substitutes’ bench.
“I was not surprised because I have seen him working the full week,” Pellegrini observed, when asked to assess the No30’s display. “He couldn’t start the game because he is just coming back from surgery to his muscle and three months out without playing one game, but you could see in the way he was working on the training ground that his performance reflected what he was doing.”
Of course, difficult games are coming but I continue trusting in the players to return to winning form
Manuel Pellegrini
Next up for West Ham is a trip to Stamford Bridge to face Frank Lampard’s Chelsea, followed by a trip to Wolverhampton Wanderers and a home game with Arsenal at the start of December.
Pellegrini knows points will not come easy from those games, or any others, for that matter, but he believes the Hammers are just one victory away from rediscovering their confidence.
“You see that the team never gives up,” he repeated. “Of course, you must have confidence that you can reverse the situation and that’s one of the things we talked about at half-time.
“We said we could not concede another goal because we could score two goals, but we conceded another one in the second half.
“Of course, difficult games are coming but I continue trusting in the players to return to winning form.
“When you don’t get the result you want, you must trust more than ever in what you do, the way you work and the players never gave up. They kept fighting until the final minute of the game and I think when we get our next win, the pressure will come off.”
