Frustrated Hammers boss David Moyes has questioned whether West Ham belong after seeing a lack of quality from his side.
West Ham have been on an incredible journey under Moyes over the last two years.
And it has led them from the relegation zone to the semi-finals of the Europa League.
The Hammers have done their fans proud again this season.
But the team and shallow squad has struggled for any kind of consistent form since November.
The huge semi-final first leg against Eintracht Frankfurt did not go to plan with West Ham looking like rabbits in the headlights as they conceded in the first minute.
Michail Antonio levelled for West Ham on 20 minutes and the Hammers spurned a number of other chances.
But so too did Frankfurt who got a first leg winner when Moyes’s side started the second half in the same sloppy fashion they had begun the first.
West Ham’s players battled hard – as they almost always do under the Scot.
But a frustrated Moyes questioned whether West Ham belong at this level after seeing a lack of quality from his players when it mattered most (whufc.com).
“Didn’t deserve to (win or draw) tonight, didn’t play well enough to,” Moyes told whufc.com.
“I think if you play well then you can talk that way. But I don’t think we really deserved anything.
“Didn’t show enough quality, certainly in the attacking areas when we did have those moments and a couple of times we had to defend and we didn’t defend well enough.
“We’re probably coming up against teams which might be better than us.
“There’s a good chance that they are (better than us) a lot of the teams so maybe at this level we’re just short of the quality that’s required to make the difference.”
Moyes’s frustration is understandable. And if West Ham had a quality striker it would have made a world of difference to their season including last night.
The goal within a minute sucked the life out of an expectant London Stadium and the performance simply did not match the levels West Ham have put in on their Europa League journey so far.
We can only hope the manager’s strong comments are designed to get a big reaction from his players for the away leg in Germany next week.
And West Ham should take great heart from the number of chances they created in the game.
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