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Michail Antonio insists the defence is not solely to blame for West Ham’s poor start

West Ham United's Michail Antonio looks dejected (Reuters)
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The Hammers are in the bottom three and have conceded 13 goals in five games so far.

West Ham United's Adrian with James Collins

West Ham United star Michail Antonio has told the club’s official website that the blame for their poor start cannot be put solely on the defence.

The Hammers sit in the bottom three after five games of the season with just three points to their name so far.

Their poor form continued on Saturday afternoon as they were beaten 4-2 by West Bromwich Albion, their second successive defeat by that scoreline after losing to Watford the week before.

West Ham United's Michail Antonio looks dejected

The blame has been firmly put on their defence after they conceded 13 goals already this season.

Antonio, though, insists that the blame should be put on the whole team and not just on the defenders.

“It’s the Premier League – if you make mistakes you will get punished,” he told the club’s official website.

“Defensively we’re not doing it, going forward we are – but you can’t just blame defenders as we have to do it as a team.”

West Ham United's Simone Zaza looks dejected as West Bromwich Albion's Claudio Yacob looks on

While Antonio believes everyone at West Ham should share the blame, there is no denying that vast improvement is needed from the back-line sooner rather than later.

So far this season they have conceded 9.2 chances in the box per game; the sixth worst record in the division.

Goalkeeper Adrian has also been busy, making 3.6 saves per game, which is the fifth-highest tally in the division.

Both stats show the defence is currently not up to scratch and improving there should be top of West Ham manager Slaven Bilic’s aims.

West Ham United manager Slaven Bilic watches on