West Ham manager Julen Lopetegui spoke to BBC Match of the Day after West Ham’s defeat to Tottenham: “First of all we are very disappointed for our fans. The summary is that they [Tottenham] deserved to win to be fair. We started well and we deserved to take the lead despite their two big chances. We defended well, attacked well and had more chances too
“In the second half we conceded the second goal in an action where we had many players in the box. We have to defend better in that moment as they are a team that make a lot of internal runs, which we knew, and we have to avoid that.
“After that was the bad moment in the match. It is normal that you can concede the second goal but then you cannot dismiss ten minutes, we lost all of our possibility to stay in the game and be competitive.”
Biggest concern? “The first is that we lost three points. The second is that we lost a derby and for that we are very sorry for our fans. The third is that if we want to be competitive in the Premier League we need to improve and we need to approach the bad moments with the right mentality.”
On challenges at the club: “To overcome the situation and to become a better team and be able to win more matches. it is going to be a hard week for sure because we are frustrated today. But we have to look forward and be ready for the next match against Man Utd.
On the Kudus red card: “I did not see the action back on tv but I think that if the referee reviewed it and decided that it was a red card then I cannot have a doubt. Maybe it is another point to improve, when we suffer in the bad moments we keep calm and fight to the end as a team.”
Julen Lopetegui admitted he needs to improve his communication to his players, after West Ham conceded three goals in eight minutes on the way to a heavy 4-1 defeat at Tottenham.
Mohammed Kudus scored the opening goal for West Ham but was later sent off for a shove to the face of Micky van de Ven in a match where the Hammers showed ill-discipline both in the defensive and the literal sense.
Defeat saw West Ham fall to 14th in the Premier League after a disappointing start to the season under new manager Lopetegui, whose side have won only two of their opening eight league games of the campaign.
Quizzed about the second-half period when his side shipped three goals in such a short period of time, Lopetegui said: “For sure, we are concerned about this. This is what a coach should be concerned about, and today has been a bad thing.
It’s one thing that we can improve. Despite the fact we are playing maybe one of the best teams in the Premier League in the attacking phase, I think that we can do better in the defensive phase. We have to do better.
“Maybe I have to improve, too, my translation with my players, for sure.”
The 58-year-old added: “The first half was interesting. We did good things. We scored and had chances to score more.
