It is a case of no more Mr Nice Guy as Hammers boss David Moyes vows to crack the whip and singles out West Ham trio for criticism.
West Ham were beaten 2-0 by Arsenal on Wednesday night to drop out of the Premier League top four.
But in truth West Ham have simply not looked the same team since that momentum killing November international break.
The Hammers were second best against Arsenal and it is clear for all to see that the form of Moyes’s side has dipped badly with just one win in their last six Premier League games telling its own story.
Arsenal also ended West Ham’s European record stretching back 42 games of having not lost a game by more than one goal.
But there are no excuses or hiding from the honest Scot.
Until last night Moyes has been careful not to criticise his players too much.
After all with West Ham enjoying a miraculous revolution under him in the last two years it would seem almost ludicrous to.
The manager is clearly starting to lose patience, though. He kept the players in the dressing room for some time after the Arsenal game.
And following another lacklustre display, Moyes has vowed to start cracking the whip at West Ham in a bid to raise standards.
No more Mr Nice Guy as David Moyes vows to crack the whip and criticises West Ham trio
The Hammers boss also singled out West Ham trio Vladimir Coufal, Michail Antonio and Said Benrahma for criticism.
“I didn’t make much of it (the game) to be honest, I didn’t enjoy our performance,” an agitated Moyes said after the game (whufc.com).
“Overall we weren’t at the races, we’re probably not in a good enough moment (to compete with a team like Arsenal)…
“Hey (look), we want the expectation levels to rise so I’m more disappointed that we couldn’t quite get a few things right.
“I was disappointed probably more with the second goal because I thought we gave it away really poorly when we were fighting really hard with 10 men to get back in the game. It was a real cheap turnover (from Said Benrahma) and it shouldn’t have happened…
“I’m going to get the players ready to go because I want more and I want better. I think now we’ve got to get over it (the slump in performance levels) and I’ve got to find a way of getting improved performances because there’s a few (players) not playing at the level they should be and I need to find a way of getting them up and back to that.”
Moyes criticised Coufal’s defending for Arsenal’s opener saying the full-back was out of position (Football.London).
And he also criticised Coufal for the penalty he conceded and subsequent sending off.
As you can see from his comments above Moyes was furious with Benrahma – as he also made clear in his interview on BT Sport after the game – for giving the ball away for the killer second.
The West Ham boss had thrown his support behind out of sorts Antonio ahead of the game, insisting he had seen signs the striker was starting to get back to his best.
But after another woeful performance, Moyes admitted Antonio simply must do better (Football.London).
“I did not think we played the ball through and forward as well as we have done in other games,” Moyes said in his post match presser.
“But I still felt that when Michail did get it his retention levels weren’t as good as they should have been.”
West Ham must get their season back on track against Norwich on Saturday IF the game goes ahead.