West Ham under 23s suffered the third of a hat-trick of defeats in the Checkatrade Tropy at Yeovil Town last night being beaten 4-0 by Yeovil.
There are of course excuses for the dip in the form of the side with the departure of Grady Diangana on first team duty and the recent unavailability of Xande Silva, still injured, and Nathan Holland who should be available for next Tuesday’s clash against Premier League International Cup clash against Dinamo Zagreb.
But coach Liam Manning was in no mood to hide behind such explanations in his post match analysis of the game following defeats earlier in the west country by Bristol Rovers and Exeter.
Disappointed at seeing the team crash out of the competition he said: “It was a difficult evening. Three of their four goals were from set pieces which was disappointing. We keep talking about a learning curve but we’re at the point now where we have to learn quickly.
“We’ve got to learn not to give cheap free-kicks away in the back half of the pitch and we’ve got to make we are set up appropriately, and we’re doing our jobs and we are focused on what our roles are on the set-pieces. We didn’t do that against Yeovil.
“I think, if we look at the manner of the goals we have conceded this season, too many of them are too cheap and too soft. When we’re playing against a senior team like Yeovil Town, who will place a big emphasis on set-pieces in League Two, we have to be able to cope with it, and we didn’t.
“We will go away and look at the goals but ultimately, we’ve got to learn quickly and stop these things from happening.”
Manning continued: “Moses’ target was January in terms of getting as fit as possible. He did really well at Plymouth at the end of last season before the injury he had. It was great to see him playing like that tonight.
“He had the engine, and the way he led was an example to some of the younger players in the team. He’s a great character on and off the pitch and he’s getting better every week.”
With a Premier League International Cup fixture against Dinamo Zagreb next for West Ham, Manning knows there is work to do for his side in the next week on the training pitches.
He added: ““We’ll review the game, and we’ll address the issues that keep coming up. The next game is a big one against Zagreb next week.
“We’re out of this tournament but if we win that game, we go through, so there’s a lot of incentive.”
