West Ham United’s campaign to stay in the Premier League took a hit as they lost 5-2 to Liverpool on Saturday. Nuno Espirito Santo’s side gave the game a good go, creating opportunities, but failing to take enough as the Red’s were clinical and the Hammer’s weren’t
Going forward West Ham look a dangerous side, but need to start finishing their chances if they want to stay up though. The biggest problem for the Hammer’s on Saturday was on the defensive side of the ball, with the team conceding from three corners in the first-half after failing to clear the ball.
Mateus Fernandes spoke to the club’s official website after the game, admitting the team’s set piece defending was disappointing:
“It’s frustrating, because I thought we played well overall in the first half,” Fernandes said. “We conceded three goals from set-pieces, and these are the details you need to be on top of. When you play these big teams, you need to be ready for this difference.
“We worked on stopping Van Dijk during the week, because we know how good he is in those situations, but we weren’t able to stop them scoring.
“We kept believing though, and we went into the second half knowing that everything can change very quickly. The team scored first which was good, but then they killed the game.”
Back-to-business for West Ham on Wednesday
West Ham’s defeat to Liverpool marked their second defeat in their last seven Premier League games. The result doesn’t stop the Hammers from still being one of the form team’s in the top flight, but have quick turnaround before their midweek away game at Fulham.
21-year-old Fernandes expects his team to be ready to go on Wednesday, believing they have the quality to head home with all three points:
“This is football, and we know now that we have another game, that we need to win to help us get out of the position we’re in.
“I think we’re getting better every week. We know the quality of our squad and Head Coach, so we’ll get on with getting ready for the next game.
“We’ll rest, recover and then go again on Wednesday, when we’ll do everything we can to win the game.”
It’s certainly not all doom and gloom for the Irons. Both Tottenham Hotspur and Nottingham Forest failed to make ground on West Ham, leaving the gap to safety at two points.
