Rely on Snoddy to tell it as it is
For once again the 31 year old looked by far the pick of a poor crop during the worrying 90 minutes at the London Stadium.
And that the fine journeyman pro – ought for £8 million – should be the one who gave the Hammers half a chance of rescuing something from the wreckage of yesterday’s performance speaks volumes.
With new arrivals at the club worth around £100 million it might have been expected one of them might just catch the eye.
But no, for the second week on the trot it was Snoddy who was producing energy of the highest order, a corner for Balbuena’s goal and one of his own, which gave some hope.
And he has the right to speak out on an otherwise sorry display which has left every fan suffering acute anxiety.
Speaking at https://www.whufc.com/news/articles/2019/november/03-november/snodgrass-we-simply-need-be-better he said: “It’s a bad result. It’s a performance that isn’t West Ham-like,” he said. “I think we need to have a reality check and realise that we need to start getting points on the board if we want to climb up the table.
“We need to be solid and resolute. First-half we could’ve been 4-0 or 5-0 down. It’s very disappointing. We can’t give teams three goals to start before we come into it. I just think we need to sit back, watch it and we need to be better. It’s as simple as that.”
“The fans are coming here and supporting us and that performance is nowhere near good enough,” he said.
“Newcastle sat in and made it hard for us. They kept hurting us on the counter-attack with their No10 who was a threat throughout, as was Almiron with the pace. They did it maybe four or five times and could’ve caught us on the counter.
“I think the way we were playing it was hard to break them down and then it was two set-pieces which is the disappointing part. The manager will be pulling his hair out. It’s not good enough.
“We need points on the board, it’s as simple as that. It’s a great football club and I don’t think that level of performance from the team is good enough.”