The opposition view... Barnsley

A major gulf in financial muscle was the reason for West Ham inflicting a heavy defeat on the Tykes in their own manor, according to most Barnsley FC fans...

"West Ham were the better team today. They stopped us playing, we didn't just go out and decide not to play. The main reason they were better is because they have the quality in their side that we seem to be lacking at the moment. Sometimes, hard work and endeavour just doesn't cut it. Sometimes it does. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case this evening. West Ham's home form has been shocking this season, which is why they aren't top of the league. That's because of the way they play. They've won 12 away games this season. They constantly close down opposition and force errors. When you're playing away, this tactic is much more effective as the home team tries to go for it. At home, most away teams tend to sit back and soak up the pressure, so such tactics are much less effective."
- Jonno

"The gulf between us and West Ham in terms of quality is absolutely massive, and money is the main reason for that. However, they didn't play especially well tonight and apart from the second goal, it wasn't so much their quality that beat us but our own lack of quality. As soon as we conceded the first, it was obvious that they were going to control the game and the only question was how many they'd score. If it wasn't Easter weekend with another game coming up on Monday, I think they'd have run in seven or eight - as it was they took it easy, second half. We're well short of the other teams in the league on quality at the moment. Any of their bench would walk into our team."
- KFC

"Today was men against boys. 1) More physical presence. 2) More confident. 3) Harder working. 4) Better organised. 5) More quality all over the field. It's points three and four I find hard to stomach as these seemed to be items we had in abundance before Christmas."
- PitPony

"I was disappointed in the booing of Vaz Te today, but not surprised! He used us to get his career back on track and as it turned out it worked and he's now at a team who are looking at promotion to the Prem. But while he was here, we used him to get some brilliant performances and brilliant goals out of him, and as somebody else has said, let's hope they have gone a long way towards keeping us up. I dont like it or agree with it, but I'd probably do the same if a bigger and better club wanted to buy me and they were challenging for promotion. Who else would have apologised for scoring like Vaz Te did?"
- Acido

"There aren't many other teams who play like West Ham do in this league. Until half time, they pressed us all the way through. With the way we have been trying to play (keeping the ball, building from the back), West Hams tactics force errors. The difference between two teams then tends to come down to quality, which West Ham have in abundance."
- Jonno

"Today we were beaten by an average Championship side. What I saw of West Ham was not a lot. Two or three good players; Nolan, Maynard and Vaz Te. The reason they beat us so easily was because we are not a Championship team, just an average League 1 team. No excuses, money don't come into it because say £1,500,000 has been spent on rubbish. I'm not even blaming Hill because he thought these players could play Championship football. None can. It might be a good thing to go down a league because next season we will be in trouble big time."
- upthecolliers

"West Ham did their home work. They pressed from the front, let our centre halves have the ball and closed our midfield down so we had little outlet. We were neat and tidy in midfield but had no creativity. Two of those first half goals were individual errors, bad uns at that. I know managers take responsibilty but things like that the players should take the blame for. Uphill as soon as we conceded and we never had a chance."
- Dyson

"We certainly lack the quality of West Ham but I think the problem lies more with the tactics employed. We stood off them all game and gave them too much time and room. Maybe too much respect as well. I don't know what Hill's tactics were but will be good to hear his assesments of the game. I actually blame him for that inept performance. The team played to their capabilities but these fell far short for what was required."
- arabian_ian

"I wasn't expecting much, but not that gutless, clueless shambles. Don't know about respect but the the back four certainly gave them the freedom of the park. We looked scared to death/hesitant when we actually won a ball, we gave it back to them far too cheaply and when we actually made the other end of the pitch the delivery was far too often crap. Yes, we have had injuries etc but thats no excuse for being so hapless in basic skills and tactics.Their faces should be the colour of our shirts tonight."
- North Yorks Red

"West Ham's bench. Carlton Cole played for England; Papa Bouba Diop, a Premier League player most of the time he's played in England; Sam Baldock bought for million or two; Henri Lansbury plays for Arsenal; Danny Collins, a Welsh international. Also, I think West Ham wanted to prove a point on TV. They (the manager and players) have taken a lot of stick and we were the unlucky team that got it - and did we get a beating."
- hemsworth-tyke

"The only positive that I can salvage is that it wasn’t six, seven or eight because it could have been even more embarrassing. We could have been more than three goals down at half-time. We are not, in any way, a competitor to West Ham. I hate it because I want to be successful. It was always going to be difficult but we shot ourselves in the foot magnificently. Even John Wayne couldn’t have done it better."
- Keith Hill (Barnsley FC manager)

*Comments originally posted at thestar.co.uk, barnsleyfc.org.uk and footymad.net.