David Moyes was pleased with his side’s response to their weekend disappointment at Newcastle United, as Kurt Zouma’s first-half goal helped West Ham United earn a deserved 1-1 draw at home to Tottenham Hotspur.
Following the dramatic 4-3 reverse at St James’ Park last time out, it looked as if it might be a long night for the majority inside London Stadium when Brennan Johnson tucked away a chance at close range to put Spurs ahead inside five minutes.
But the Hammers showed good resilience to maintain their composure, and they were back on level terms by the 20-minute mark when skipper Zouma cleverly found the net with his back from a Jarrod Bowen corner.
Ange Postecoglou’s visitors controlled the ball for large parts of the contest under the lights but there were decent chances for a winner at either end, with the best perhaps falling to Michail Antonio close to the hour.
A late flurry for both teams didn’t see a change in the scoreline and in the end they were forced to settle for a point, leaving Moyes’ men with four from six against their UEFA Champions League-chasing London neighbours this season.
After the final whistle, the boss reflected on a display he felt was crammed full of positives, which he hopes his players can use as a building block with seven Premier League games and a UEFA Europa League quarter-final against Bayer Leverkusen to come.
We’ve moved on from Saturday with this performance and result.
The response is down to the players, who stood up to be counted tonight. They took a bit of ownership, which is what I asked for, and they were tougher in a lot of the opportunities and challenges.
I thought we did a lot of good things, and to take four points off Tottenham in a season is no easy feat. Anyone who watches them regularly will know how they play and how you have to stop them, and I thought we did a good job out there. They’re a good side, and I think we were good value for the draw.
We were a threat up front, and had chances to score a second.
As well as being strong defensively, I thought we looked good in attack, and were especially dangerous on the break.
In the last few minutes of the game we could have nicked it, and the opportunities fell to the players I’d like them to fall to - the likes of Lucas Paquetá, Mohammed Kudus and Jarrod Bowen.
Unfortunately, we just didn’t quite get it right in those key moments, but we’ve been strong in attack for a long time and it’s one of our big strengths.
I thought the eleven players out on the pitch were doing a good job, and I didn’t think we needed to change things.
We juggled things with Mo [Kudus] and Mick [Antonio] moving around up front, as we’ve done recently, and we continued to create chances.
We just felt the players we might have used might not have been ready to come into the game at the time.
Jarrod Bowen has shown good form all season, and he’s a consistent threat.
He’s had his moments when he’s not been quite as hot as he can be, but he had a big hand in our goal tonight, and he’s dangerous whether it’s scoring or setting things up.
He’s a really good player all round, and the energy and effort he gives to the team is incredible.
We need to show resilience going into the remainder of the season.
We were better defensively tonight, and that is what we’re going to need going forward. Up front, we’ve got players who can score, and we’re not bad from set pieces, but the resilience is going to be key.
The best teams in the league tend to be the best defensively, so if we can get that right we’ll be going in a good direction. I think it’s a good result tonight, and we’ll try to use that going forward.
