West Ham boss Julen Lopetegui admits Niclas Fullkrug is still way off the pace of the Premier League after a disappointing full debut.
Fullkrug, the £27.5million summer signing from Borussia Dortmund, finally made his long-awaited first league start for the Hammers against Brighton.
But the Germany striker, only just back to fitness after more than three months with a calf injury, lasted 55 underwhelming minutes before he was substituted.
Fullkrug touched the ball a total of 13 times, just twice in the opposition box, and lost possession eight times.
And as if to illustrate just how ineffective the 31-year-old was, West Ham scored moments after he went off.
“It’s true that now he’s not in his best way,” said Lopetegui. “But it’s true that he needs minutes to achieve this level that we need.
“I think that when he’s going to be better, he’s going to last more. It’s about the minutes, about the matches, the way to recover his best.
“Sometimes, knowing that the player is not in his best way, you need to put him in to play, because we think that we are going to need him in his best way.”
Brighton took the lead seven minutes into the second half when Lewis Dunk went up to challenge Hammers goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski for Pervis Estupinan’s far-post cross.
The ball squirmed out to Dutch midfielder Mats Wieffer, who lashed it back first time past Fabianski from 12 yards out.
But as Fullkrug made the long walk back to the London Stadium dugout, West Ham secured a 1-1 draw through Mohammed Kudus.
Jarrod Bowen’s shot was parried by Brighton keeper Bart Verbruggen and the ball sat up for Kudus to nod in the rebound.
Brighton almost snatched victory but Fabianski made a fine reaction save from Yasin Ayari’s deflected shot and Yankuba Minteh’s cross for Kaoru Mitoma was deflected onto a post.
Seagulls substitute Evan Ferguson then miskicked from six yards and Fabianski saved with his legs to deny Ayari in stoppage time as West Ham clung on for a point.
“There were plenty of chances to win this game, and in the end we weren’t able to score, so it’s our fault, our responsibility, that we don’t leave the pitch as a winner,” said Seagulls boss Fabian Hurzeler.
“I think there were several good blocks by the players from West Ham. But sometimes we weren’t clinical, not clean enough, not precise enough, without finishing with our first touch. That’s something we have to work on.”
