West Ham United lost 3-1 at Manchester City this afternoon.
West Ham manager Slaven Bilic
West Ham United manager Slaven Bilic has told Sky Sports that he was ‘angry’ with his side’s first half display in the 3-1 away defeat to Manchester City.
The Hammers were on the back foot early on as City dominated the first half, with Raheem Sterling sweeping home from inside the area after a flowing move down the left hand side.
City doubled their lead when Fernandinho powered home a Kevin De Bruyne free kick, and whilst Michail Antonio did pull a goal back for West Ham in the second half, Sterling grabbed his second and City’s third with a tidy finish from an acute angle.
West Ham United’s Ashley Fletcher looks dejected
The result means West Ham have lost two of their first three Premier League games of the new season, and couldn’t bounce back from Thursday’s embarrassing 1-0 home defeat to Astra Giurgiu in the Europa League.
West Ham were missing a host of key names, such as Dimitri Payet, Andy Carroll, Sofiane Feghouli, Havard Nordtveit, Aaron Cresswell and new signing Simone Zaza, and whilst Manuel Lanzini made his return from injury at half time, the lack of quality was evident throughout for Bilic’s men.
West Ham United manager Slaven Bilic
After the game, Bilic spoke to Sky Sports about his side’s performance, and admitted he was angry with their first-half display, as whilst he knew that the quality in the final third was lacking, the mentality and character from his players also wasn’t up to scratch.
Bilic added that, once Payet and Feghouli are back after the international break and he can use newly-arrived striker Zaza to spearhead his attack, fans will see a ‘different’ West Ham side to the one which struggled at the Etihad Stadium earlier today.
New West Ham signing Simone Zaza celebrates after scoring for Juventus
“It’s a huge difference,” said Bilic. “At half time, I was angry – mostly about our mentality and character that we showed. The quality, we knew up front, we don’t have that. If you don’t have that quality to keep the ball, to have the ball and to hurt them, then it is a problem if they are attacking all the time.”
“With Lanzini back now from the injury, with Payet back, with Feghouli back, with the signing of Zaza and a few more back that we are expecting, of course it’s going to be a different West Ham,” he added.
What did you think of West Ham’s performance against Manchester City?
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