West Ham crashed out of the Europa League on Thursday evening.
West Ham United vice chairman Karren Brady
West Ham United vice-chairman Karren Brady has told The Sun that injuries are no excuse for the club’s defeat to Astra Giurgiu on Thursday evening.
The Hammers had aspirations of a run to the Europa League group stage this season, having been dumped out in last season’s qualifiers by Romanian side Astra.
West Ham United’s Ashley Fletcher looks dejected
Fans were unsurprisingly having painful flashbacks when West Ham were again drawn against Astra this time around, and after a 1-1 draw in Romania, the Hammers were in a strong position heading back to their new London Stadium home.
However, Slaven Bilic’s men fell flat on Thursday evening, as former West Bromwich Albion playmaker Filipe Teixeira struck the only goal of the game to send Astra through, and knock West Ham out for the second year in a row.
West Ham United’s Sam Byram, Cheikhou Kouyate and Winston Reid look dejected
Hammers fans simply cannot believe that their side have come unstuck again, and are playing without European football again – though many have pointed to the club’s remarkable injury list as a possible reason for their exit.
Andre Ayew, Dimitri Payet, Sofiane Feghouli, Havard Nordtveit, Aaron Cresswell, Manuel Lanzini and Andy Carroll are just some of the names who missed out agianst Astra through injury or a lack of fitness, robbing manager Slaven Bilic of much of his strongest side.
Others believe that West Ham should have had more than enough quality in their side to beat Astra – who lost 5-1 to CFR Cluj last weekend – and advance into the group stages of the competition.
West Ham United Vice Chairman Karren Brady
Now, the club’s vice-chairman Karren Brady has had her say on the situation, telling The Sun that West Ham don’t want to rush players back and risk injuries, much like Arsenal did with Aaron Ramsey – but added that injuries and fitness are no excuse, and Thursday’s defeat left her bitterly disappointed.
“The truth is that, for West Ham, the season began two or three weeks early,” said Brady. “Fatigue and injury have affected many of our players that were involved in the Euros. And hurrying the key men back can be risky, as Arsenal found with their Wales midfielder Aaron Ramsey, who picked up a hamstring injury in the Gunners’ opening game of the season with Liverpool.”
“It’s no excuse that we go out of the Europa League without eight of our first-team squad. Overall, our 1-0 home defeat by Astra Giurgiu was the most disappointed I’ve felt for a long time,” she added.
What did you think of West Ham’s performance against Astra?
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