Julen Lopetegui often calls on his players to be ‘main actors’ in his pre-match press conferences, and on Boxing Day they produced a performance full of heart and resilience to win 1-0 at Southampton.
The Hammers suffered a series of setbacks at St Mary’s Stadium, but headline act Jarrod Bowen rose to the occasion yet again to score the winner and take home three points and the Man of the Match award.
A sixth Premier League win of the season made it four games unbeaten for the Irons, who won despite losing Maximilian Kilman, Łukasz Fabiański and Carlos Soler to first half injuries, and held off a refreshed Saints who were playing at home under new manager Ivan Jurić for the first time.
December has been a challenging month for the Head Coach, who has lost his father at the age of 94, and for the Club as a whole, who are without Michail Antonio following a serious car accident and are collectively mourning the passing of 15-year-old Academy goalkeeper Oscar Fairs.
And so, for Lopetegui, seeing all 17 players who took to the pitch – the Hammers were permitted to make six changes as Fabiański’s replacement by Alphonse Areola was deemed a concussion substitution – perform with such passion for the Claret and Blue cause gave him a feeling of huge pride and satisfaction.
With Liverpool at home up next on Sunday, there are further challenges ahead for Lopetegui, who could be without up to six senior players for the visit of the Reds, with both Guido Rodríguez and Tomáš Souček suspended after being booked.
But, with the support of fans who out-sang their opposite numbers at St Mary’s, and who will fill London Stadium yet again as the year comes to the end, the Head Coach is looking to the future with confidence and optimism…
We knew this challenge was very, very tough for a lot of reasons.
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. That's why I highlight the mentality of the team, because this mentality enabled us to get three points.
It's true that all the players were ready to be actors on the pitch.
J-C Todibo showed that as he started on the bench, and then started playing in this kind of match. It's not easy, but he showed his mentality and he was ready. Alphonse [Areola], too, he did the same. In the second half, Edson [Álvarez], too.
After that, Aaron Creswell was injured in the last two weeks and he had to play in an important moment for the match, and he showed that he was ready. Cry Summerville, too, he did well, and so did Vladi [Coufal], too, in the last part of the match.
Always, all the players have to be ready because the alarm clock is always going to wake you up, so you have to be ready.
The goal we scored was a good action.
We had another chance to score the second goal with Summerville, so I think that we were very close [to a wider margin of victory], but it's true that in the second half, we didn't suffer a lot of clear chances that I can remember.
In the first half, yes we did suffer some clear chances but to highlight, I repeat that we handled a very tough match today and we handled big problems with injuries and this kind of situation.
So, we have to keep with this mentality and to be ready for the next challenge that is going to be enormous [against Liverpool], and we have to be ready to use all our players.
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.
