Hammers fans unhappy as Noble tries to explain Palace defeat

Mark Noble has claimed that everything went against West Ham United during Saturday evening’s 2-1 defeat at home to Crystal Palace.

West Ham took the lead through a marvellous team goal finished off by Sebastien Haller just before the hour mark.

However, Patrick van Aanholt responded from the penalty spot less than 10 minutes later before VAR overruled Jordan Ayew’s late winner which was initially denied by the offside flag.

Speaking to the official club website, Noble put the Hammers’ defeat down to the decisions that went against them:

We didn’t play as well as we can do but we scored a really good goal, a really good [team] goal, and we then got two massive decisions that went against us, which was frustrating. Sometimes they go for you, sometimes they go against you, but today it seemed as though everything went against us.

It’s fair to say plenty of West Ham supporters aren’t buying his comments though…

Twitter: @WestHam Mark not like you to make excuses, how many times are we one more game from a good league improvement and bottle it (@sandirfdsdvvggn)

Twitter: @WestHam Lost the battle in midfield and didn’t take our chances in the final third. Wouldn’t say that’s things going against us. (@mattjdaley94)

Twitter: @WestHam Not sure how playing poorly means things go against you? Come on skip, just admit we didn’t play well and… https://t.co/s6ElcpnAo1 (@BradChuck)

Twitter: @WestHam The main thing that went against us was our own performance. Should have been out of sight by half time. Do better please. (@stuarttownsend)

Twitter: @WestHam We just weren’t good enough. Passing to slow, too many sloppy passes, not clinical in front of goal. Hand… https://t.co/lQ3Gy6iidB (@MartinF76466230)

Read West Ham’s verdict

Although two key decisions did go against the hosts – rightly so, too – the performance wasn’t good enough for a team aspiring to earn European qualification.

West Ham would be as high as third and one point off second-place if they had defeated Palace at the London Stadium, so it’s a painfully missed opportunity.

Going into the international break on the back of a defeat, especially in that manner, is painful, but the team will have to pick themselves up quickly.