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West Ham boss Julen Lopetegui labels one Everton star ‘very good’ in 0-0 draw
As West Ham United squandered chance after chance in Saturday’s goalless draw with Everton, Julen Lopetegui must have wondered what more he could have done.
The West Ham boss is under pre🐬ssure๊ amidst a disastrous Premier League start.
But even as his team produced one of their better performances of 2024/25 – though that is admittedly not sayin🌃g much – the Hammers ran into a goalkeeper who seemed determined to pile even more pressure on the man threatening to lap his rivals given how far he is at the front of the proverbial ‘sack race’.
Jordan Pickford denied Jarrod♚ Bowen with a fine reflex save at his near post in the ♏first-half. The luckless Danny Ings could only look to the sky with disbelief, meanwhile, after Pickford somehow tipped his deflected effort over the top in acrobatic fashion.
Pickford had already deniedꦺ Ings once by that point. And, on the occasion that West Ham did render the in-form Everton glovesman helpless, Crysencio Summerville’s slide-rule effort rebounded off the base of the post.
West Ham boss frustrated by Jordan Pickford’s Everton heroics
“Our aim was to win the match and we deserved to win the match,” a frustrated Lopetegu🦋i told reporters at full-time. “We had enough chances to do so.
“Pickford was their best player in my opinion. He did three๊ or four saves, very good saves, and we ⛄also hit the post.
“But I think that despite this, I was not happy with the first-half because we can’t [give a] gift to the o💮pponent for 45 minutes. Okay, we defended weಌll but it was not enough. That’s why I was not happy with the first-half.
“Not because they deserved to win or they had a🐓 chance. No, because I think that we didn’t show the energy and the character that we needed.”
Julen Lopetegui takes the positives from Everton stalemate
The gap between West Ham and the relegation zone now stands﷽ at just six points, meanwhile, after Gary O’Neil’s Wolverhampton Wanderers side claimed a massive victory over Southampton at Molineux.
But although Pickford’s stellar display ꦗwill be the main talking point on Saturday evening, W🦩est Ham might only be five points above the bottom three right now if it wasn’t for the feline instincts of their own shot-stopper.
Lukasz Fabianꦍski, in for the injured Alphonse Areola, made a fine save himsel♔f as he denied Jesper Lindstrom from close range.
“It’s true that we don’t have [some of our players] right now,” Lopetegui adds, Mohammed Kudus and Edson Alvarez suspended as Niclas Fullkrug’s injury issues wors🎶en his nigh𝔉tmare West Ham spell so far.
“Four players, i🧜mportant players, were out. Mo, Edson, Fullkrug, and Alphonse was💯 not on the bench because he had problems. But despite this, I think that the team showed in the second-half that there is an opportunity for the other players too and that they took advantage of this opportunity.
“It was a pity th💖at we didn’t sc꧋ore the goal because we would have liked a fantastic three points for us. But okay, it’s one point. We are looking forward to the next challenge.
✱“We know that with three oౠr four points more we are looking at our position in another way. We have to achieve this consistency and to be able to improve and to look forward with a positive mind.”