West Ham United manager Slaven Bilic admitted he and his players were “hurt” by the reaction of the crowd after the 3-0 defeat to Southampton at London Stadium on Sunday.
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“It is the same players and manager who were doing good things last season (when they finished seventh)”.
“It is not good enough”, said West Ham manager Slaven Bilic. I don’t think you can play with two or three of those attacking players when they are losing games.
The 27-year-old’s strike – a well-taken first-time shot from inside the box that found the bottom corner – was the first shot on goal by either team and continued his superb recent form in front of goal.
“We are way below par”.
The Irons have now won only one of their first six Premier League games of the season. But it’s happening for four games now and we have to change it big time. Now the credit is gone. Southampton took them apart with a brand of incisive, neat attacking play now beyond Slaven Bilic’s team; Saints goalkeeper Fraser Forster was required to make just a single save.
Bilic will point to the injuries which have severely disrupted his team’s season, but West Ham must must look beyond excuses.
“West Ham’s players don’t even look that bothered!”
“It’s very hard to have confidence when you are 2-0 down”.
“We are not the first and we are not the last team that is in this situation”, he said.
That player who has the handy knack of producing goals is a key individual in a team sport.
“It’s not a good sight to see the stadium empty at the end”. I know how it works. “I am not flying away from the responsibility and I don’t want to point fingers”.
“Of course I am asking myself questions”. I do that when we are winning also.
The visitors played the better football after the break and were denied an early second when Adrian made a good save from Dusan Tadic, with the best West Ham could muster in response being a rejected penalty appeal from Simone Zaza. “We lost the game 3-0 at home and we deserved to lose”. Same with me. If you ask me if I am low tonight, of course I am low.
Meanwhile, It had been an equally frustrating start to the campaign for Claude Puel’s Southampton, whose solitary league success came last time out against Swansea City.
Austin’s fifth goal in four matches will have been especially sweet, as Hammers co-chairman David Sullivan had suggested that the striker might not have had any ligaments in one of his knees after the East End club had been linked with trying to sign him last past year.
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Puel believes Austin is on the verge of playing himself into contention for an England call-up if the striker continues to find the back of the net.
