West Ham boss Julen Lopetegui appeared to be in agreement with referee Chris Kavanagh’s decision to send off Mohammed Kudus during Saturday’s 4-1 defeat to Tottenham on Saturday.
The former Ajax star was dismissed in the closing stages after appearing to shove both Micky Van de Ven and Pape Sarr in the face, having previously kicked the former while he was on the ground.
It compounded a nightmare day for West Ham who, after taking an early lead through Kudus, inexplicitly collapsed.
Alphonse Areola’s own goal and efforts from Dejan Kulusevski, Yves Bissouma and Son Heung-min gave Tottenham all three points and derby day bragging rights.
West Ham boss Julen Lopetegui appeared to be in agreement with referee Chris Kavanagh’s decision to send off Mohammed Kudus during Saturday’s 4-1 defeat to Tottenham on Saturday
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Discussing Kudus’ red card, Lopetegui said he hadn’t seen the incidents back.
But the Spaniard also made it clear there wouldn’t be any complaints from his side once he’s rewatched the footage.
“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,” he said.
“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.”
Lopetegui, discussing the result, added: “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.
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“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.”
While it was a dire day for West Ham, it was a brilliant win for Tottenham.
The result will ease some of the pressure on Ange Postecoglou, who has faced criticism amid his side’s inconsistent form.
West Ham boss Julen Lopetegui was frustrated following his side’s Premier League defeat to Tottenham on Saturday
And the Australian was pleased his side were able to bounce back following their 3-2 defeat to Brighton last time out.
“I thought we were good today,” he said.
“We had to work hard in the first half but we got back into the game after conceding.
“After that it was outstanding from the lads, good energy, some good goals although I thought we could have gotten a few more.
West Ham were poor as Tottenham cruised to a 3-1 win on Saturday afternoon
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“Good day at the office.”
Tottenham are next in action against AZ Alkmaar in the Europa League on Thursday night, while West Ham go up against Manchester United next Sunday.