West Ham boss Julen Lopetegui admitted that the game against Tottenham got away from him far more quickly than he expected.
During the second half of the encounter with Tottenham, the Hammers went 2-1 down, prompting Lopetegui to attempt a triple substitution in the hope of turning the game back in his favour.
Unfortunately for the Spaniard, the score-line seemed to be 4-1 in the blink of an eye following Ange Postecoglou’s halftime tactical switch, with goals from Yves Bissouma, Son Heung-min, and an own goal from Jean-Clair Todibo or Alphonse Areola, depending on which newspaper you read.It was an eight-minute spell that ended any hopes of the Hammers getting any points from the game, as Lopetegui waited to make changes. The Irons coach cut a frustrated figure on the touchline as he looked to make his changes but he must take some blame as he decided against making the subs when the ball went out of play for a corner.
“We wanted to make the substitutions at 2-1, but everything happened very fast,” replied Lopetegui. “It’s true that even before it went 2-1, we were thinking about changing the players, but things in football can happen very fast, and it was a bad moment for us. Despite not getting the substitutes on, I think we can do better with the players on the pitch. It’s about keeping the focus and the right mentality.”The forward saw red in the 86th minute on Saturday after lashing out at Micky van de Ven and Pape Matar Sarr.
Kudus was originally shown a yellow card by referee Andrew Madley, but this was upgraded to a straight red on VAR review. The forward aimed two kicks at Van de Ven while the defender was on the floor, then shoved the Spurs man in the face after he had got up to confront him. Despite his team-mates’ attempts to retrain him, Kudus then also pushed Sarr in the face.Joey Barton was given a nine-game ban for three separate violent clashes when he was sent off for Queens Park Rangers against Manchester City in 2012.
West Ham boss Julen Lopetegui claimed not to have seen the incident, but said he would talk to his player in the coming days.
‘We need to talk, but today is not the day,’ Lopetegui said. ‘I am sure he is going to be aware that he can improve his answer in this moment because it’s not good for him, it’s not good for the club, for the team. But I can’t say anything more because I don’t see the action.’