The Hammers U23s coach saw his charges lose 3-1 to Blackburn to remain in Premier League 2 relegation trouble.
While West Ham United’s senior team has overcome early-season troubles to climb up to mid-table in the Premier League, the Under-23s aren’t having as good a campaign.
The Hammers are currently second from bottom in the Premier League 2 standings, and their last game, against Blackburn Rovers, ended in a meek 3-1 defeat.
At the Chigwell Construction Stadium, Rovers had taken the lead thanks to a Charley Doyle header, but Dan Kemp equalised to ensure parity at the break.
After the restart, however, the hosts were guilty of errors at the back, which led to the Lancastrians scoring twice in the final 15 minutes to deprive West Ham of any points.
With just five league games left in the campaign, U23s manager Liam Manning has work to do if his charges are to survive the drop, and after the encounter, he did not pull any punches and hinted that the players hadn’t done their first-team hopes any good.
“It was extremely disappointing and frustrating,” he told the official club website. “We speak to the lads about stepping into senior football; you need to be trusted and second half we just didn’t do it and it wasn’t good enough.
“Going in level at half time, I thought out of the two teams, we were the ones who could actually raise our game an element and up the quality… everything that we talk about every day went completely out the window second half.”
Up next for West Ham’s U23s is a trip to the Liberty Stadium next Monday to take on their Swansea City counterparts, a big relegation six-pointer against the division’s bottom side.
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