West Ham joint chairman David Sullivan has spoken of his disappointment and frustration after the Hammers lost 3-2 in their Premier League game against AFC Bournemouth at the Vitality Stadium yesterday.
And Sullivan is adamant that Slaven Bilic and his players must redouble their efforts to bounce back for the reverse against Eddie Howe’s men on the south coast. And they get the chance to do when the Hammers take on Leicester City at the London Stadium in their next top flight game next Saturday.
Sullivan says that “the players and the staff all know we have to do better” and has called for the team to focus on being able to avoid conceding early goals in matches, something that undone the Hammers at Bournemouth.
Sullivan said: “Bournemouth had been on a difficult run of results and hadn’t won a game this year, but they were at home and their crowd were right behind them. You could see from the kick-off that they really wanted that game and it showed on the pitch throughout the 90 minutes.”
The hosts missed a penalty and Bilic’s men went up the other end and scored through Michail Antonio, and Sullivan expected the visitors settle down and start playing their football. But the game remained really open and the Cherries got an equaliser, then missed another penalty before going ahead from a set piece just after half-time.
Sullivan added: “We have conceded too many goals early in halves in recent games and, while we’ve managed to get ourselves back into games like the ones at Southampton and Watford and at home to West Bromwich Albion, there will be matches where we cannot equalise. That situation cannot go on.”
West Ham managed to level with another goal from Andre Ayew, but Howe’s troops scores a third late in the game.
Sullivan continued: “I am sure that Slaven, his backroom staff and the team were not happy with what happened and they will think about it a lot over the next few days. We have a week to prepare for our next game at home to Leicester City and I really urge you to give everything you can to support the team at London Stadium, as it is a massive game for us.”