Manuel Pellegrini has insisted that West Ham were not good enough in the first half against Huddersfield and the home side deserved the point, after it finished 1-1 at the John Smith's Stadium.
Huddersfield started the game on the front foot and got Lukasz Fabianski to make a great save to keep a Steve Mounie header away from his goal in the first minute. It was end-to-end stuff early in the game as Terriers goalkeeper Jonas Lossl tipped a Marko Arnautovic effort around the corner after the West Ham forward was clean through on goal.
However, the home side did get the early lead when Alex Pritchard’s scuffed effort crept into Fabianski’s net after West Ham lost the ball in a dangerous area. The Terriers almost a made it 2-0 in the 14th minute, but Philip Billing’s attempted cross looped over Fabianski and hit the woodwork.
The game settled down after the first 20 minutes, but Huddersfield kept looking like the side who would get the next goal. Fabianski made a fantastic block after Pritchard played Mounie through on goal close to the half-hour mark.
West Ham huffed and puffed after the break, while Huddersfield kept threatening to score the second goal. The Terriers dropped deep as the half progressed and they paid for their missed chances when in-form Felipe Anderson equalised in the 74th minute when the Brazilian latched on to a loose ball. Lossl saved Hernandez’s effort, Michail Antonio fired the rebound into a sea of players and Anderson converted the goal.
However, both teams could not find a winning goal in the final minutes and the game ended in a 1-1 draw.
Pellegrini wanted to see more aggression and intensity from his side in the first half and admits that West Ham did not react well enough after conceding the early goal.
He feels West Ham’s second-half performance improved, but admits it was still not good enough to get the win.
The West Ham boss was quoted as saying by the BBC: "We didn't play well in the first half after their goal.
“You have to fight for every ball when you come here, they play with a great intensity and aggression.
"We also kept the ball too much in our own half, this is a team that aggressively presses you.
“In the second half we improved a little bit more, we created chances and we got the goal.
“But if you review the 90 minutes, the draw was the result that both teams deserved."
West Ham remain 13th in the league table on 12 points after as many games.
