West Ham 0 Everton 0: Dull draw in East London piles more pressure on Lopetegui’s struggling Hammers
JULEN LOPETEGUI always says he wants to be judged in May – but many will have made their minds up already.
This drab and desperate performance only raised more questions over the Spaniard and his side.
What is Lopetegui’s plan? Does it exist? Is anyone listening?
Few answers were offered on a glum afternoon in East London.
The under-fire manager will point to Everton star Jordan Pickford and his trio of smart saves from Guido Rodriguez and Danny Ings, but that is merely papering over ever-growing cracks.
West Ham were lucky to escape with a point and the only thing they had to celebrate was a first home clean sheet since January.
The summer spend of £127.5million is an awful lot of money to spend in order to be this average.
Lopetegui was without Mohammed Kudus and Edson Alvarez through suspension but still had a side capable of offering much more than this.
Hammers fans will have headed to Stratford hoping, if not quite expecting, to see a confidence boosting win over the Toffees.
But, to the frustration of supporters and boss Lopetegui, what they were served up across a turgid first half was a display of utter incompetence.
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Passes found Everton shirts almost as regularly as they did claret and blue ones while there was a complete lack of ambition or quality on the ball.
Sean Dyche’s side, without Dwight McNeil through injury, were creating more chances but hardly through being more adventurous.
From a West Ham attack the visitors broke and were only stopped from going ahead when Crysencio Summerville managed a last ditch challenge on Abdoulaye Doucoure.
Iliman Ndiaye sent a shot from the edge of the box into the hands of Lukasz Fabianski, the 39-year-old still in ahead of Alphonse Areola.
Under no pressure at all from Everton, happy to sit tight, the Hammers had no idea what to do with the ball at the back and struggled to get out.
They managed to find a bit of space late in the first half, with Jarrod Bowen and Michail Antonio both having half-chances stopped by Jordan Pickford.
The display had been so insipid across the first 45 minutes that fans in the London Stadium did not even have the will to muster a proper boo at the break.
Trying to inject some life into things after the restart, Guido Rodriguez ran onto a loose ball and cannoned it towards goal – only for Pickford to pull off a fine save and parry it clear.
With neither side able to grasp any sort of control or momentum, Everton were then up the other end trying their luck.
Vitalii Mykolenko slashed at an effort which was deflected behind before Jesper Lindstrom’s header was tipped over the bar.
The Toffees should have done more when Jean-Clair Todibo, having far from his best game, was robbed by Dominic Calvert-Lewin in the West Ham half.
Calvert-Lewin checked this way and that trying to create an angle but had to move the ball on before the move ended with Orel Mangala’s shot sailing high and wide.
West Ham’s continued haplessness was offering Everton hope of a first win in three but this side appear to need a dozen chances to even truly test an opposing goalkeeper.
Lopetegui made a triple change, sending on Carlos Soler, Vladimir Coufal and Ings to try and liven things up.
West Ham did start to see more of the ball, but were still struggling to make things happen.
Lucas Paqueta – having gone missing since about February – found space on the edge of the box with players lining up in the middle but elected to dink the ball out of play.
The Brazilian is capable of turning games like this on his head when at his best, but Hammers fans have seen nothing near that level of form for the majority of this year.
There are always odd flashes, such as the ball which sent Summerville through before he struck the post, but never enough.
West Ham were more advanced after their changes but still giving the ball away with alarming regularity.
Bowen, still not back in the England squad, was having to chase a touch of the ball everywhere and looking up to find very few options each time he gained possession.
Everton, knowing a point was more valuable to them, were happy to sit in and frustrate as the hosts looked for a much needed late winner.
Ings found space in the box, just as he did for a late leveller at Fulham earlier this season, but this time his left-footed strike was met by Pickford.
West Ham’s substitute striker was doing all he could to get them all three points, but was being frustrated by Everton’s stopper.
Pickford saved the best for last, pulling off a stunning late save to send Ings’ deflected shot over the bar.
The England goalkeeper was one of the only ones to leave the pitch with credit thanks to his superb stops and some canny time wasting to earn the point.