Julen Lopetegui spoke to the media at Rush Green training ground ahead of Sunday’s Premier League fixture between his West Ham United and Manchester United at London Stadium.
The Hammers will be seeking to bounce back from a 4-1 defeat at Tottenham Hotspur last time out, and the Head Coach said the week has been focused totally on working hard and preparing the team for the challenge of hosting Erik ten Hag’s side.
Lopetegui knows what a home win over the Red Devils can do for the confidence, belief and morale of his squad, himself, his staff and the Claret and Blue Army, and he has blanked everything else out in his quest to win three points.
West Ham’s form has been inconsistent so far this season, with only one win in the last seven matches and only two clean sheets in all competitions. The previous three Premier League games have seen West Ham draw, lose and win one each, scoring six goals and conceding six, and Lopetegui knows his team need to tighten up all over the pitch to achieve a greater level of consistency.
The Irons will go into the game without Mohammed Kudus after the attacker was sent-off at Tottenham, but the Spaniard has confidence in the ‘next man up’ to take the Ghanaian’s place on the pitch on Sunday and put in a performance for his team.
We live and work for victories
Always we work and we live for the victories, to have victories, and for sure it will be very good for all of us and for the fans, but I prefer not to imagine the victory. I prefer to work to achieve the victory. This is the thing that we have to do.
Right now we have nothing, so we have to work very hard, be focused, believe in ourselves, and be ready to compete in the best way to be able to win the match.
We have to improve our consistency
We have to improve in our consistency because we are playing against different teams, because in each match a lot of things happen and there are key points, that sometimes work in your favour and sometimes against, but for sure we have to try to be more consistent and to play better, too. This is my aim.
I can imagine that what this team can develop into and what it can do, and we are going to work for this and develop and I am sure this idea is going to be real as soon as possible. I am sure that we are going to play well and that we are going to win matches. We have the focus in this.
We have to defend better as a team
Always the defensive work is about all the team. Sometimes in your individual defensive work you can do better, too, but it's up to the team.
We talk a lot about this and I think that the team have to be more consistent, for sure, trying to be in the same way and to be aggressive in the opposition box as well, so this is our work. I am sure that we are going to achieve this level, for sure.
In the meantime, we have to put the focus in the next challenge and that is Manchester United.
All coaches are always under pressure
I think that all the coaches are always under pressure – sometimes more, sometimes less depending on the last matches.
I am not going to talk about one colleague or another club [like Erik ten Hag and Manchester United]. I can talk about me and we are going to play against a very big team. Manchester United is one of the best teams in the world and we have to be ready to face them, and we have to be ready to do well, to play well, to work hard, to be able to beat them. That is going to be our aim.
Mo will learn how to handle his frustration
Unfortunately, Mo Kudus is going to be out for many matches because his behaviour was not good, and he knows that. I think it was a pity, because he did a good match and he was very close to scoring two goals, but this frustration sometimes you have to handle and to manage and it is one thing he has to learn, for sure.
He is young, but for sure he's not happy, we are not happy. It can happen, but I hope that is the last time that we suffer this kind of action. He is going to learn for the next years that the only way to handle and to manage the frustration is by running more and focusing it in the match. There are no other ways. This kind of behaviours only damage yourself and the team too. So it happened, but I am sure that is not going to happen more.
I talked with him. We talked and sometimes you do not have to talk a lot about this kind of situation, as he knows how he made a mistake. That’s why I say that for sure that he's going to learn about this incident and that in the future, for sure that he's going to handle this kind of action better.
One problem is one opportunity
The most important focus for me regarding Mohammed Kudus’s absence is the player who is going to play in his place, and to put the focus on sometimes one problem is one opportunity, and we have to try to catch this moment as an opportunity for the team and for other players.
I am sure that the player is going to play in his place is going to be ready to do well and to help us to win the match.
We have a player ready to play for him. I am not going to say today what the lineup will be, but I am sure that the player who is going to play in his place is going to do well. I repeat that sometimes one problem is one opportunity and we have to try to catch this moment and this opportunity.
I believe a lot in these players
When you become a coach, you live with the pressure always. This is normal and sometimes it's good to have our kind of life. I think that it’s true that we didn't have the best start, and we haven’t had the start that we would like to have but, in the same way, we are sure that we are doing steps ahead and we are going to be able to arrive at the end of the season in the position that we want.
There are a lot of matches in front of us, I believe a lot in these players, and I am sure that the good results are going to arrive. The only way that we going to do this is in our daily work is to work hard and to try to be self-critics and to be able to improve. We are in this in this way and in this work.
