West Ham first defeat in nine games was deeply disappointing but not a disaster.
Members of the ClaretandHugh website and forum at https://www.facebook.com/groups/363174467150521/ have been responding to the defeat at Newcastle.
Here is a selection of their comments.
Slav seems to add more to his armour every game and I am sure he will learn from this result,apart from winning games from behind which we could not do this time. We need a pre game talk similar to the half time ones as we seem to start every game in slow motion.
Five League defeats from 22 games. Only 3 away defeats. Unbeaten in nine Home games (League and Cup). I honestly think had we had Sakho or Carroll today we would have got something from the game. We are a striker away from being a top six team this season.
Club record on the line and they turn up with no fight. Don’t think I have seen a more lacklustre performance since the tail end of last season. I think Bilic missed a trick early on. I was screaming for Reid to replace Collins as he was clearly struggling. He was a liability for 10 minutes and pulled other defenders across to cover him. Both goals scored in that period.
A couple of weeks ago I wrote that we are still a team that blows hot and cold and that is the major problem Slav has to solve. This coming out and playing as if we just got out of bed, for the first half hour has been our Achilles heel for a long time now and as it’s a mental thing, it’s tough to cure.
Personally I think starting with Valencia up front and not jelivic didn’t help us. Valencia 1st touch is poor and he can’t hold the ball up and is also lazy. But hey we were bound to loose eventually and Newcastle have been playing well without getting the wins they have deserved. We really do need sakho back as soon as pos. we will just have to smash city next week.
We need to put a full 90 minute shift in not just one half!! Lets start another unbeaten run on Saturday.
The win was more important to Newcastle than the defeat was damaging to us bad day at the office and we move on been a fantastic season so I’m not to upset we almost rescued a point
Not balotelli ? Please
I think Bilic made a couple of strange decisions today. Firstly I believe he should never have started Valencia up top. Secondly when he brought on Jelavic he should have taken Noble off, he was awful today. Thirdly he should have brought Moses on much earlier and finally what is he doing wasting a sub bringing on Jenks. Made more sense to bring Reid on and go 3 at the back. For the next game, Reid back at CB, Noble benched and Obiang starting and please please try young Oxford at rb.
I’ll settle for a win against Man City and Liverpool in the Cup (after a replay)