Julen Lopetegui felt his team had suffered at the hands of the best striker in world football after Erling Haaland’s hat-trick condemned his West Ham United team to defeat.
The Hammers battle gamely against Manchester City at London Stadium, coming from a goal down to level through Rúben Dias’s own-goal, then hitting the woodwork through Mohammed Kudus after Haaland’s second had put the visitors back in front before half-time.
But it was the Norwegian goal machine who had the final say, racing through to complete his second consecutive top-flight treble and secure a 3-1 victory for Pep Guardiola’s champions.
City were the better side and deserved their victory, which extended their unbeaten Premier League run against the Irons to 20 matches, but Lopetegui felt his team had made it too easy for the visitors to score their first and third goals due to defensive errors.
At the same time, the Head Coach was also pleased with aspects of his own team’s play, most notably their desire to get back into the game after falling behind on two occasions.
West Ham go into the September international break with players heading across the globe to represent their respective countries, before returning to Premier League action at Fulham in a fortnight’s time, and Lopetegui is hoping his players return fit and healthy.
He is also looking forward to working with his final summer signing, Spain international midfielder Carlos Soler...
We knew that City are one of the biggest tests in the world, but it was a pity that above all, at the start of the match, in the second half and at the end of the first, too, we had our good moments.
I think we did really well in the half of the second half, but we didn’t score and when you don’t score against these kinds of teams, they don’t forgive.
It’s true that we did little mistakes and against these kinds of teams in these kinds of matches, you can’t concede these kind of chances, because they don’t forgive.
It was a pity because the players and the team made a big effort today after playing three days in a very tough match against Bournemouth.
We were very close to drawing and I think we deserved it in the second half above all, but we didn’t and we have to keep the good things and try to improve the other things.
I have to see the match again, but I had the feeling from the bench in the second half, thinking that we were better and we had the control.
We had long possession and we were able to show we are not only a counter-attacking team. We dominated a big team, but for all this, you cannot take advantage of all these things if you don’t score.
We didn’t score and that’s why we keep the good things and try to improve the others.
First of all, City have big, big quality in their individual players and secondly they have big, big quality as a team, so they are dual difficulties, and they play always with one idea.
We tried to avoid a lot of things and I think that sometimes we did, but I think, when I analyse the goal, that two for sure are actions that we could do better. We conceded these actions and their kind of players don’t forgive.
We have to improve in these things, for sure.
The window is closed and you can now only sign free players right now, and OK, we have to focus on the players who we have in the squad.
We now lose a lot of players who go with their national teams and we are crossing our fingers that they come back healthy.
We will keep working and start thinking about the next challenge.
I think that Carlos Soler is a good player and he is going to help us, for sure.
He is maybe at his best age, as he’s 27, he has international experience and is a very good player.
He has a good profile for us as he can play in different positions and I think he is going to help us to be better.
