West Ham United head coach Julen Lopetegui wants supporters to reserve judgement on him and his side until the end of the season.
The Spaniard remains under pressure following West Ham’s goalless draw against Everton.
Lopetegui replaced David Moyes in May on a two-year deal, with the option of a further year, but has overseen a disappointing start to the season. Despite a summer spend of over £130million on nine players, West Ham are 14th on 12 points.
But ahead of upcoming games against Newcastle United and Arsenal, Lopetegui is confident the club’s form will improve.
“I always work under pressure, this is not new,” he said in his post-match press conference. “I’m very happy with the commitment of the players, I’m very happy with the club.
“I repeat, we are not happy with our position but we’re sure that we are going to be able to finish higher. So many of the competitions end in May. I assure you that a lot of things change in a few months. We are sure we are going to be able to do that.”
West Ham have lost five of their 11 league games. The draw against Everton was their first clean sheet since the away win at Crystal Palace in August. But this season supporters have booed the players in home fixtures against Chelsea, Manchester United and Everton.
“It is normal that the fans are not happy with two points dropped,” said Lopetegui. “We know why and we are not happy with 12 points. In the same way, you look at other teams that lose, they are fantastic, they are only three or four more points than us.. We can do better. We are not happy but there were positive things today.
“We have three, four important players out (Alphonse Areola, Niclas Fullkrug, Mohammed Kudus and Edson Alvarez) but it’s a big opportunity for other players too. They showed they are able to take advantage of this opportunity. I prefer to think about the positive things, despite the fact we want more.
“I think we deserved to win given the number of chances we created in the second half. I was not happy with our performance in the first half. It wasn’t enough but the positive things are we had a clean sheet and created enough chances to win the match. The only frustration I have is, we lost 45 minutes in the first half. The players didn’t have enough chances. We can do better with our attitude and energy.”
Following November’s international break, West Ham return to action against Newcastle United on November 25.
(Harriet Lander/Getty Images)
