Adrian: We were compact and defended as a team

 


Adrian had praise for the Hammers’ resilience as they battled hard for a point at London rivals Tottenham on Thursday.

Less than 48 hours after beating West Bromwich Albion at home, West Ham were back in action at Wembley, thwarting a Spurs side who enjoyed the majority of possession and territory but only had Heung-Min Son’s thunderbolt to show for it.

That owed much to the visitors’ sturdy work in defence and the Spanish goalkeeper was full of praise for the job the players in front of him did.

“We defended like a team, all together and very compact,” he said. “We were hard to beat and we’ve played good games against the top teams in recent weeks.

“Now we have to keep this level against teams who are lower in the table, show that we are ready to compete and take points from them too.

“To be fair, when you concede a late goal it feels a little bit like a defeat but it was a hard game. We defended well, we had some good counter attacks and Pedro scored a great goal.

“It’s a good point away from home and we keep on a positive run.”

Adrian

The pick of the No13’s six saves came on the stroke of half time when he adjusted well to push Christian Eriksen’s venomous drive over the top after it had taken a large deflection off Angelo Ogbonna.

“It was another deflection!” Adrian reflected. “That always makes it hard for a goalkeeper when it takes a touch off a player before it comes to you.

“This time, I had the luck to touch the ball and save it behind for the corner.”

18-year-old Declan Rice walked off with the Man of the Match award for another composed display in defence and Adrian was once again impressed with the youngster’s performance.

He added: “I congratulated Declan after the game, because it was a big match in a massive stadium against a good team like Tottenham.

“He did very well in defence, he did his job, so I have to congratulate him.”