For Julen Lopetegui and his West Ham United team, there was no time to dwell on the midweek Carabao Cup exit to Liverpool, as Saturday’s Premier League trip to Brentford quickly came into view.
The Irons head to the Gtech Community Stadium for a third away London derby of the new campaign, aiming to maintain their unbeaten Premier League record on the road following the win at Crystal Palace and draw at Fulham.
While Lopetegui’s side have suffered a hat-trick of London Stadium defeats at the start of the 2024/25 season, their Premier League fortunes have been better away from home – and the boss says it is important to focus on the positives ahead of Saturday’s trip.
Although Wednesday brought about what was in the end a heavy defeat at Liverpool, Lopetegui felt his side were in the contest for the vast majority of it, until Edson Álvarez’s red card and a brace of late Cody Gakpo goals gave the scoreline a more one-sided look.
But now the time is to turn positives into victories, with three points at Brentford the clear aim for the Head Coach…
Positives to take from Anfield
It’s not easy to say after this kind of loss, but it's true that we did very good things for 75 minutes at Liverpool on Wednesday night.
But after the red card and the third goal it was a very different end. In the rest of the match I think that we did good and positive things and we were, in my opinion, very close to winning the match.
Unfortunately we suffered one goal [that looked] offside when there was no VAR. We were unlucky about this and the picture was not good at the end of the match, but I think that the boys worked very hard and for 65, 75 minutes they deserved more.
We have to accept it because in two days we have a very important and demanding match against Brentford.
We remain upbeat
The truth is that we did good things on Wednesday against a very big team, but we know that we have to improve.
We know that we are just starting but we want more for sure. Our demands are high and we are sure that the Premier League is going to be long for all of us and I am sure that these players are going to overcome and to be better and to improve. I am sure about this.
It’s true that we need one win and we want to win the next match. The next challenge is Brentford, a very good team, at home they are a very strong team and we have to be ready with no excuses that we played on Wednesday. We have to be ready with the big energy and big commitment to face one very demanding match.
Looking for a platform
In each match three points are always important and we are going to fight for sure in the next match to achieve these three points.
I think that we had a very tough start, but in the Premier League each match is very difficult for all of the teams. I think that we did good things but maybe we have to be more consistent, to have more good moments, because the demands about the Premier League level is like this.
We have to be more consistent to repeat the good moments [more often] in the matches. In the matches we lost I think that we deserved more, but I repeat when you lose you don't find excuses but try to find the positive things that we had and try to change the things that you can or you have to improve.
Full debuts for new signings was a plus from Liverpool
For example there are three players that started in the line-up for the first time and step by step they are going to grow and they are going to increase their level, and they are going to increase our level too.
We need this competition every day for us to become a better team and I think that this is good, despite for sure we are out of the Carabao Cup and we would like to be in the competition, but yesterday there are new players that say that they are ready to be chosen.
I am happy with the new signings. We need this kind of time for adaptation of the players, but in the same way in the meantime we need to win too.
We are aware of this and we have to be able to compete in the next match against Brentford.
It's a very interesting team and they are going to demand the best for us. We have to be ready to put the focus on our strengths and to be able to be more consistent.
The hard work continues
We try to enjoy our work every day, but it's true that we are working to win. So we are trying to find the way to win matches, as we did against Crystal Palace and against Bournemouth.
Now it is time for Brentford and all of us, we want to make a good match in two days and be able to win the match.
