David Sullivan has declared that after yesterday’s defeat by Leicester City “all we can do is ‘sorry’ to the supporters.”
And he admits that the next few games have become vital to the season with two away from home and a third against Swansea at the London Stadium.
He said: “As I have learned in my many decades as a fan, it is never easy being a West Ham United supporter and we all know that we have to do better.
To be 2-0 down after seven minutes of any football match, be it in the Premier League or in your local Sunday League, makes it very difficult to get a positive result.
In parts of the second half we were very good, but so was their goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel, who made world-class saves from Andy Carroll. We also had a shot cleared off the line and another good chance which Andre Ayew shot just over the crossbar.
But, we need to be good before we are losing!
We have to find out why we are conceding so many goals and fix it because it is obviously harder to win games when you concede two or three goals in a game than if you keep a clean sheet.
The next few games now become vital for our season. We go to Hull City, then to Arsenal, before we welcome Swansea City to London Stadium.
Once again thank you to the fans for your wonderful support. The noise in the second half, in particular, was superb and clearly inspired the team to keep pushing for the equaliser.
It was just a shame for all of us that it did not arrive.”
You will be slagged off for having a view Mr S or daring to air that view in public but I think that’s fair comment as was your comment after the Bournemouth defeat. We DO need to do better and we DO need to be good before we are losing (I like that comment, so true, sums up our season) and I’m certain Slaven will agree with those sentiments.
Apology accepted. Let’s go get 9 points from Hull Arsenal and Swansea. Very achievable if we play like we did in the 2nd half. Oh and reinstate Adrian in goal.
Not sure where else to put this, but I have just seen a truly shocking stat. In West Ham United’s last 49 competitive games we have conceded 2 goals or more a quite staggering 27 times. More than 50% of the time in other words.
Tells me all I really need to know where our main problems lie. We need new coaching staff, a right back and a new goalkeeper at the very least. Actually other than a couple of players, our whole defence needs a total make over.
Come the summer that is what we need to be looking to do.
It was a disappointment yesterday i agree but i often wonder where the manager headhunters appear from on forums.We won six of nine and but for a WBA equaliser it would have been seven of ten.
Not a pin drops on forums when we are doing well bar the fulltime grinches but when we have a sticky patch the lunatics take over the asylum.
I can only assume they sit crossed legged in the dark deep lairs waiting to appear if we dont win for four or five matches.
I am one who is hoping Bilic is here next season and given the chance to sort things out, which I believe he can do.
Whoops Stinger i wasnt on aboit you.Sorry if it came across that way.
Your comment wasnt actually up when i did mine.
We must have done them simultaneously
But my comment still stands that i dont know where people appear from when the going is a little tough,they are no where to be seen when we are doing ok.
I wasn’t at the match yesterday Longdog so not fit to say what was good or not about that from a 30 minute highlights package on sky but I have been to many of the matches in league and cup and have been critical of the same problems almost from the start of last season, at first I gave Bilic a chance and do genuinely like him as the players seem too but almost every match it is the same story irrespective of result, we attack in numbers which is great to watch at times but we fail to get back in numbers or close the ball down, we sometimes win the second ball but not often enough and sometimes intercept but again not often enough. We are an open door at the back whether through the centre the right side and now even the left side because Cressie has suffered a lack of form, everyone can see it I think I can say that fairly safely, I wish Slav was the man but he can’t organise the team defensively or at least hasn’t in almost every match we have played, our best defensive performances actually have come with Ogbonna and Collins as a pairing allbeit they had Song in front of them which helped them a lot. From day one we have lacked that competitive intensity and frequently given cheap goals away a large percentage of our goals conceded this season have come from defensive bloopers not outstanding play by our opponents, the reality is we have given a massive amount of points away. The one keeper we have that can at times put on a match winning performance had a catastrophic loss of form which results in our second choice who is solid but no more than that Randolph being our main keeper I think he might have earned us two points this season which is not enough for a PL keeper. I think overall the players we have are more than sufficient to challenge in both domestic cups and the league but they are not do you put all the blame on them or elsewhere ? I blame the coaching staff they work with the players day in / day out although from the words of the players that receive that training (our players and former players) that training lacks the intensity of our competitors or other leagues. Fixing it should be easy but 18 months in we are still making the same mistakes but we don’t have a world class player to bail us out anymore.
Did i say that no one can comment,er no.I wasnt having a go at individual posters who regularly seem to contribute on sites
I said i wonder where all the moaners appear from who you dont see on our west ham sites when the sea is smooth but are firing on all cylinders when the sea gets choppy,thats all.
I know mate but I class myself as one of the moaners for the last few months, no offence taken 🙂
Lets be honest – at least two of those wins were very lucky flukes. I’m just thankful for them otherwise we’d be right in the tick of the relegation battles. You talk about the West Brom equaliser but if Tomkins hadn’t missed that six inch tap in then I think Palace would have beaten us from 0-1 up.
The big talking point was, when Reid got injured, why did Bilic bring Snodgrass on instead of Collins? Obviously we were two nil down to a couple of soft goals and had to chase the game, so you could see it as a positive move but we all saw Collins running up the touchline when Reid was down and then standing there waiting to be called back to get ready to come on – but Bilic put Snodgrass on and Collins initially came back to the bench and then seemed to storm off down the tunnel – the other way to look at it was that Kouyate was again wasted playing in defence when his energy, pace etc were sorely needed in midfield!
A strange decision by Bilic, one of quite a lot this Season – he persists in playing players out of position, has he lost the players – they looked disorganised yesterday and lacked any sort of system. Leicester, on the other hand, looked strong, played a rigid system and pressed strongly and collectively.
True, there were signs of life in the second half but West Ham didn’t really deserve anything out of the Match – another disappointing display in what is turning into a totally underwhelming Season.
Mr Sullivan, The reason why we are conceding goals is that the coach hasn’t been able to instil the need to close down opponents and win 50-50 challenges from the first seconds of the game. The 1st goal yesterday came from Obiang’s failure to win a challenge he should have won in our half and Cresswell standing off the Leicester wide player to allow him a cross/shot from 30 yards. All the successful PL teams have mastered these 2 basic defensive techniques and our boys do it when they remember but they need to remember for 90 minutes. Also, we have a very weak goalkeeper who doesn’t control his area, is poor on dealing with crosses and is especially weak in the 6 yard box because he is mostly rooted to his line on corners. No wonder the defenders are struggling when they cannot have any confidence in the goalie. The comparison between Schmeichel and Randolph yesterday was embarrassingly obvious. Randolph is also very weak at distribution from hand and boot and often puts the players in front of him under pressure or with no hope of winning the ball. So we give away possession cheaply and make life an uphill battle. We were absolutely terrific for the last half hour of yesterday’s game but we have to play like that more consistently. Ultimately, it’s the manager’s job to ensure this happens and, as much as I like Bilic, he needs to be replaced by someone who can get the message through to a mostly talented group of players
Although it was frustrating not to see Kouyate stay in midfield when Reid went off I do understand that Kouyate is a decent centre back and arguably better equipped to cope with Vardy’s pace than Colllins. As you say chances had to be created when we were two behind so there was some logic to the choice of Snodgrass; unfortunately he seems to be on a downward trend and did little until his free kick set up the Carroll chance late on.
There was a case for choosing Ferghouli in that he plays on the right and wants to cross whereas Snodgrass will always cut in that side.
I Agree with MM. time is up for Bilic- he cannot organise a defence and consistently plays players out of position. It started so positively- brave selections and good tactics- Oxford in midfield v Arsenal- had a blinder hardly played since. Failure to buy a right back, replace Noble and pick the wrong keeper. He didn’t rate obiang for a year, who has been one of our better players.
I think a lot if people like Bilic (he seems a great bloke) but is he capable of taking us to the next level.
No. Clearly not.
Don’t ya just love an expert?
Not really but i see none Lol
You don’t have to be an expert/trainer/manager to see some of the problems on the pitch.