One quality that any manager needs is luck. Sometimes it takes a referee refusing to award the opposition a seemingly obvious penalty, a winger crossing the ball just before it goes out of play and a stoppage-time equaliser from a forgotten forward for a coach not to find himself having to deal with an early inquest into his tactics.
For Julen Lopetegui, there was no point pretending that West Ham came close to implementing his ideas during this streaky 1-1 draw with Fulham. The Spaniard’s side were outplayed for long spells and Marco Silva could do little but laugh when he looked back at Max Kilman not being punished for bringing Adama Traoré down in the area early on. Fulham’s manager was adamant that Tim Robinson should have awarded a penalty and sent Kilman off.
Silva’s fury was understandable, although his frustration also stemmed from his players allowing their focus to drop after defending so well during a tense second half. Fulham had led since the 23rd minute, Emile Smith Rowe setting up Raúl Jiménez’s opener, and they should have been more alert when the West Ham substitute, Vladimir Coufal, hurled a throw down the right flank in the fifth minute of added time.
From that point it was all about Jarrod Bowen reaching the ball before it went behind. Bowen raced after the throw and it seemed the winger caught Fulham by surprise. They were not ready for the cutback and they could not stop the cross from running to Danny Ings, who offered a timely reminder of his finishing prowess by squeezing a low shot inside Bernd Leno’s near post.
“We had belief until the end, but we can do better and we have to do better,” Lopetegui said. “I am happy for the reaction and the spirit of the team until the end but we have to improve with the ball above all.”
The transition from David Moyes to Lopetegui has not been smooth. West Ham crave expansiveness but it is hard to see much improvement since the Scot’s departure. If anything they have regressed under Lopetegui, who will know that he cannot rely on Ings’s knack of finding space in the opposition area every week. After all, the striker was up for sale all summer.
Needs must, though. With Niclas Füllkrug sidelined by an achilles injury and Michail Antonio an increasingly blunt instrument up front, Lopetegui had no option but to hope that Ings could save West Ham after coming on in the 82nd minute.
Fulham should have kept a closer eye on him. One lapse in concentration let them down, but they could take heart from a lively performance. They soon had West Ham chasing shadows and should have had their reward when the first of many mistakes from Konstantinos Mavropanos was seized upon by Traoré, who was getting ready to score before being knocked over by a little shove from Kilman.
Happily for the hosts their rancour would not last long. West Ham remained sleepy, even after enjoying another escape when Traoré headed over after beating Emerson Palmieri to Alex Iwobi’s cross.
Fulham were toying with their visitors and went in front when Andreas Pereira found time and space in midfield to expose Mavropanos and Aaron Wan-Bissaka with a long pass down the left. West Ham’s offside trap was all over the place and with none of their defenders reacting when Smith Rowe kept the ball in play, the former Arsenal attacker could turn and send in a cross that Jiménez turned past Alphonse Areola after losing Kilman.
There was no response from West Ham before half-time. Mohammed Kudus and Bowen were passengers and with Lucas Paquetá starting on the bench after his exertions during the international break a one-paced midfield of Edson Álvarez, Guido Rodríguez and Tomas Soucek provided zero invention.
A but at least there was an improvement after Paquetá and Crysencio Summerville came on for Soucek and Antonio. Bowen tested Leno and Paquetá shot just over, but Fulham were not unduly worried. Traoré and Smith Rowe had chances.
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It seemed Fulham had done enough, only for Ings to have the final say. Lopetegui was relieved, not least when Calvin Bassey then missed a chance to win it for the hosts with the last attack of the game.
