Stopper Roberto has told the Irons squad to stay positive after today’s shocking display.
Roberto was disappointed but insists the Hammers can swiftly bounce back.
He said: “After a game like that nobody is feeling good. We don’t think we’re a team who plays like we did today and we need to recover and keep the positivity to come back [to how we were playing previously].
“For a goalkeeper it’s much better to not be touching the ball as much in the game, with the ball being kept away. In the end, when you have to make a lot of saves, the reason is you’re defending the whole game.
“I tried to give my best to help my team today, but it wasn’t possible [to get the result].
“We have played very good games this season. The last two results haven’t been good, but we are back at our stadium next week and we want to get back to the victories – and show what we did in the first games.”
ClaretandHugh says: That’s all pretty sensible stuff from Roberto after a game of mixed fortunes for the Spaniard. Yes, he must take his share of responsibility as no keeper should be beaten at his near post – especially from such an acute angle but he was badly let down by Arthur Masuaku who was turned inside out in the build up and given that there were five defenders in the box frankly the goal was criminal. Later he proved himself a great shot stopper with two fabulous close range efforts and looked comfortable for most of the time when under pressure. He’s right when implying that good teams don’t become bad teams overnight and that the squad must remain upbeat. We move on and hope against hope that we don’t have a queue of players lining up to tell us it will get better. We don’t need that – just do it.