Lopetegui pleased with West Ham character after Brentford draw

West Ham boss Julen Lopetegui was pleased with his side’s character as they overcame a poor start to draw 1-1 away to Brentford.

Lopetegui’s side were coming off the back of a comprehensive 3-0 defeat to Chelsea in their last league game and a 5-1 EFL Cup thrashing at Liverpool in midweek.

Bryan Mbuemo’s goal a minute into the encounter could have spelled the worst for the Hammers, but they recovered well and got back on level terms early in the second half through midfielder Tomas Soucek.

Lopetegui now has something to build upon as his side face a vital match at home to Ipswich Town before the next international break, and their overall performance pleased the Spaniard.

He told BBC Sport: “We showed this [Brentford’s record of scoring early] to the players and it’s incredible we suffered. It’s a bad picture to concede so early.

“We kept calm and I think we deserved to win the match in the second half, we showed character and commitment.

“We had three or four very clear situations to score a second goal but we didn’t manage it and we take a point. I have to keep positive.

“We always have to work as a team or we are weaker – I think we did this in the second half.”

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Brentford manager Thomas Frank was content with a point despite again taking the lead early on, as he continues to deal with injuries in the squad.

“It’s a good point,” said Frank. “I’m always disappointed if we don’t get three. We were the better team for 75 minutes.

“West Ham outpowered us for 15 minutes at the start of the second half. If you take into consideration that we have nine first team players out, we had nothing to shoot with.

“What I liked from my team was the mentality. We kept going forward.”

Frank could not explain the reason for Brentford netting in the opening minute of three straight games, but he feels it speaks to one of the main principles of his side.

“I can’t tell you [the secret]. It must be a world record, three games in a row under 40 seconds – it’s unbelievable,” he added.

“We had a plan again, it’s a mindset of playing forward and trying to get on the game straight away. I’m very pleased with that.”