A point gained? Two dropped? Here’s what Ange had to say after the draw against West Ham

Ange Postecoglou said he saw a team ‘heading in the right direction’ after being asked in his post-match press conference if Tuesday night’s 1-1 draw was a point gained or two dropped.

We certainly dominated again in terms of possession and territory against a tough West Ham side but despite getting into dangerous areas on numerous occasions, particularly in the second half, couldn’t knock the Hammers’ defensive door down.

Instead, it ended 1-1 after Timo Werner and Brennan Johnson combined again for Brennan to open the scoring after two minutes before Kurt Zouma’s header from Jarrod Bowen’s corner on 18 minutes levelled it up – and that’s how it stayed at London Stadium.

Asked if that represented a point gained or two dropped, Ange responded: “I just don't think about it. I am always looking…. is it progress for us as a team? Is that a performance tonight that shows we're developing? I thought it was. We certainly handled it better than, say, we did at Fulham a few weeks back where in a similar type of game, we just didn't handle it well.

“I thought tonight, especially in our general play, our build-up and our organisation, Yves Bissouma was outstanding and the back four handled… look at their front four and they'll cause any team problems.

“I thought there was a better structural maturity in our game tonight than say like against Fulham, so, for me, that's progress. Obviously, you want to win games of football, that's the ultimate measure, but there was enough there tonight for me to say that's a team still heading in the right direction.”

Ange also had words of praise for James Maddison, adding: “I thought Madders was really good, especially when he got in their final third. I thought he played some really clever passes that we just didn't capitalise on. I think for all the guys in the front third area - not just the attacking players, the full-backs as well - we got into some really good areas, it's just about trying to show them that they don't need to be so rushed in their decision making and we'll get better outcomes.”