West Ham’s under-18s were defeated heavily by Tottenham at the weekend.
West Ham under-18s boss Mark Phillips says his players will have to learn from their mauling at the hands of rivals Tottenham.
Tottenham’s under-18s thrashed their Hammers counterparts 9-0 at the weekend.
The score was 2-0 at half-time, with Tottenham going goal crazy in the second half.
Phillips told West Ham’s official website that he wants his side to come back stronger from the embarrassing scoreline.
He said: “I think it was a good lesson in clinical finishing, if I’m honest.
“I even felt at half-time, at 2-0, if we had come out on the front foot, we had every chance of getting something from the game but, to be fair to Tottenham, they taught us a lesson in finishing, if I’m honest.
“They scored seven goals in the second half, but I’m not sure they had many more than seven chances, so fair dues to Tottenham, as it was a lesson we have to learn.”
This was a second loss in a row for West Ham’s under-18 side, which followed a four game winning streak to start the season.
Inconsistency is common in academy football, and freak scorelines like this are also more frequent than at competitive level.
Learning how to rally and not led your heads drop is a trait West Ham’s youngsters will have to develop.
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