Defender Vladimír Coufal insists his West Ham United teammates can take a lot of positives from their second-half performance against Manchester City, after admitting the squad's frustration with their showing in the opening 45 minutes against the reigning champions.
The Hammers – who fell to their second Premier League defeat of the campaign at London Stadium – returned to league action in disappointing fashion in the early stages against the reigning champions and were perhaps fortunate to be one goal behind at the break.
The Hammers got themselves level through Ruben Dias’ own-goal, having conceded within ten minutes to Erling Haaland, before City’s goalscoring supremo restored their advantage on the half-hour mark. The Norwegian completed his hat-trick late on to seal the points for Pep Guardiola’s side.
But Coufal revealed a tactical switch at half-time was the reason for a much-improved second half performance - which could have brought reward - and believes his side will do just fine this season under the tutelage of Lopetegui.
“They are one of the best teams in the country, maybe one of the best teams in the world,” admitted Coufal.
“They had a lot of chances in the first half, and it didn’t work out quite well to be honest, but we changed something for the second half, and I think it was much better as we had a lot more possession, created some chances, and also hit the post.
"In the end, Erling [Haaland] scored again, and it’s very difficult to defend against a team like Manchester City as you are constantly under pressure and they are always trying to find the pass to Haaland.
“We went to a back five and tried to get a bit higher up the pitch and put some pressure on them. I think it was working quite well until we conceded the third goal, and that won them the game.
“It’s totally different when you’ve been playing a different style under another manager for the last five years.
"It’s quite the opposite now as we are trying to keep ball and press, but we didn’t catch all the mistakes so far, so we have the international break to work on it.
"We have to take the positives from the games we’ve played so far in the Premier League, and we will be alright.”
