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Oggy’s a man on a mission

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Angelo Ogbonna was very disappointed with West Ham’as defensive display against Palace after arriving as a 19th minute sub for injured Kurt Zouma at Selhurst Park.

Goals for Jordan Ayew, Wilfried Zaha, Jeffrey Schlupp and Eberechi Eze came for Palace, after Tomáš Souček had, at one point, put West Ham ahead.

Further efforts from Michail Antonio and Nayef Aguerd were not enough for the Hammers to leave Selhurst Park with a positive result.

And so, Ogbonna rued defensive mishaps as West Ham crossed back over the River Thames empty-handed.

He produced another decent performance but generally speaking it was a poor performance at the back to which of course four goals bear witness.

Things will need to be an awful lot better against Man City and Man united over the next few days if the Hammers are to pull clear of the bottom area of the table.

“We didn’t get anything in the end but battled hard,” Ogbonna stated. “We went 1-0 up but they equalised and then we dropped a bit. But there are many games for us, and we try to bounce back.

“It was very important for us to get three points or at least one. But this is football and we don’t need to give up, we need to carry on.”

The Italy centre-back was unfortunate to see the ball deflect off his leg and into the path of Wilfried Zaha who smashed in the hosts’ second of the afternoon.

Ogbonna and Antonio

“I think Kurt’s injury had an effect on the team,” Ogbonna stated. “We tried everything to back. The battle was there, but at the end we didn’t get the point.

“We had our chances to get back into the game. We have always been a threat from corners, even last year – and a couple of years ago too.”

“It is important that we keep working hard at the training ground and look forward to the next game. We look at performances. Our performance has to be higher [against Manchester City than it was today.”

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Hugh Southon is a lifelong Iron and the founding editor of ClaretandHugh. He is a national newspaper journalist of many years experience and was Bobby Moore's 'ghost' writer during the great man's lifetime. He describes ClaretandHugh as "the Hammers daily newspaper!"

Follow on Twitter @hughsouthon