Julen Lopetegui felt his West Ham United team were hard done by in losing 4-1 at Premier League champions Manchester City on Saturday.
The Hammers had 17 goal attempts to City’s ten, but a failure to take their chances in the opposition penalty area, and moments of uncertainty in their own box combined to give Pep Guardiola’s side a seemingly emphatic margin of victory.
As it was, West Ham could have been ahead through Mohammed Kudus and stand-in captain Tomáš Souček before Vladimír Coufal’s unfortunate own-goal put City in front on ten minutes.
The Irons reacted well and threatened again, most notably when Crysencio Summerville robbed Manuel Akanji and was seemingly through on goal before being whistled for a foul by referee Michael Salisbury, only to then concede a second to Erling Haaland’s clinical header three minutes before half-time.
Having lost Jean-Clair Todibo to injury, Haaland then clipped in City’s third before a loose piece of play in the defensive third allowed Kevin De Bruyne to tee up Phil Foden for a fourth before an hour had elapsed.
West Ham showed admirable fight late on, with Niclas Füllkrug scoring from Souček’s cross on his way to completing his first 90 minutes for the Club, before Summerville, Lucas Paquetá and Souček all fired narrowly off-target in the closing stages.
Lopetegui believes his side’s all-round performance did not warrant a three-goal margin of defeat, but conceded the ‘key moments’ in the game all went against them.
It's tough for me to explain the score.
It's true that we did a lot of good things. In my opinion, in the first half, we overcame a lot of things, but we didn't take advantage of our good things and positive things.
In football, if you don't take advantage then normally, against this kind of team, you are going to be closer to suffering a goal [being scored against you].
But the first goal was very, very unlucky. It was not about one moment when they dominated us or they had clear chances. It was one moment when it was one rebound [off Coufal’s boot into the net] and it was very unlucky for us.
It was one key moment, above all, and it came after we had a very clear situation to score, which we didn't do. And when this happens, normally you are going to lose the match.
There was another key moment when Crysencio Summerville regained the ball in a very clear press and the referee whistled for a foul, but it was not at foul. It was very clear and had a very good press. It was a very clear chance for us, a one-on-one with the ‘keeper.
So, when all the key moments work against you, against this kind of opponent, normally you are going to lose, but that's why it's not easy for me to explain the match.
We had double the number of shots that Manchester City had, and that's why it's not easy to explain the score.
We have to keep the positive things, knowing that the little details we have to improve. We have to improve to be more consistent in both boxes and in the moment when you don't take advantage and score yourself, you have to avoid above all conceding the second and third goals.
The last City goal was one moment where we had a very clear ball and we can change and switch the play but we didn't do it. But they are goals that we can set.
There were no goals when they dominated us and they had very clear chances.
That's why in these little details and individual actions we can and we have to do better.
Niclas Füllkrug scored one goal, but he did a lot of good things for the team too.
He was able to finish the match in the pitch, which is the first match he started and finished, so step by step he's better.
He scored a goal, but the work that he did for the team was more important. He did very good work and with Crysencio it was the same. Summerville did very, very well. Lucas Paquetá too. A lot of players, they did well.
That's why today is not easy for me to explain. We lost 4-1, it's not enough and we are very unhappy, but it's true that it has been a very strange match when we did good things and we have to keep the positive things.
I look forward to the next challenge, improving these little details.
