Manuel Pellegrini Voices Frustration as Ten-Men West Ham Concede Late Leicester City Equaliser
West Ham United manager Manuel Pellegrini was discontent with his side's fortunes after the Hammers were held to a 1-1 draw against Leicester City at the King Power Stadium, courtesy of a deflected 89th minute strike from Wilfred Ndidi.
The east London outfit led thanks to a first league goal by Fabián Balbuena in the 30th minute, but were reduced to ten men when skipper Mark Noble saw red for a high lunging-challenge on Ndidi, who scored the late leveller with a deflected-strike.
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However, despite earning a point with a man down away from home, Pellegrini insisted that his side weren't pleased, considering the manner in which they conceded and the opportunities they squandered following the equaliser.
As quoted from West Ham United's website, Pellegrini said: "The mood in the dressing room was not that we’ve got a good point.
"Playing away with one player less for 60 minutes of the game, most of the time you are happy [with a point], but not in this case because we were very unlucky with the goal that Leicester scored and after the goal we had another opportunity to score."
Despite the result, Pellegrini admitted that he was proud of the way his side approached the game, suggesting that they showed the same winning mentality as that of the 'big teams', even when they went a man down.
"I’m very proud of the way the team is playing, the way the team is thinking as a big team, and the mentality of the players is to try to win away.
"When it was eleven v eleven, we were playing really well and after that we defended very well."
Noble was dismissed eight minutes after the Hammers went in front for a studs-up challenge on Ndidi, but despite not seeing the incident, Pellegrini claimed that he respected the decision from referee Michael Oliver, while also indicating that because of significant absentees, he wasn't able to make the required tactical alterations.
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"Playing with that fight in the second half was the only way, because we were winning 1-0, we had one player less and we had nine players out injured so we didn’t have too many chances to make changes from the bench.
"The players who came in did very well also, and we defended with order and organisation."
