Scott Parker's side were in the driving seat until West Ham turned a second successive home game on its head to secure another important win as Nuno Santo's side continue to (hopefully) steer a path away from the relegation zone. Now it's their fans fearing the worst. The latest edition of the OV, for your delectation...
"Very frustrating. We were by far the better team in the first half. I just don't sense enough of a killer instinct in us and I agreed with Parker in that we made it too open a game and allowed them back in. The goal just before half time gave them encouragement they hadn't really deserved. We can't keep saying we are playing well and get nothing. Parker sounds as frustrated with it as us so hopefully we see some improvement in that regard. One of those weekends when you are glad it's not just the football you travel for."
- Somethingfishy
"Too many mistakes all round and we were punished on all occasions. Absolutely nobody closed down Paqueta for the second goal and Soucek had the whole of our half to run to the edge of our area to shoot for the third. Dubravka has also made two errors for both of those goals which has contributed to the defeat. Anthony also needs a spell out of the 1st 11 as he is miles off."
- Leyland Claret
"Felt we lost that game today. West Ham obviously have some quality players and looked better today than they had been, but we’ve got to grind a point out of that today. We’re conceding too many shots inside the area and this is a big concern, for me."
- RVclaret
We were so much the better side in the first half. Deservedly went in front. As at Wolves, conceded late in the half to allow them to equalise. It's soft but 1-1 at half time, and us the better side, I was more than hopeful. At no point during the second half did I ever think we would threaten to regain the lead but likewise, neither did I see us falling behind. We lost the game because of two horrible errors from Martin Dúbravka but, in the last away game he made that stunning save at Wolves."
- ClaretTony
"A game we should never have lost. Ignoring the two bad goalkeeping errors, most of the West Ham attacks came from us turning the ball over in a sloppy/mindless fashion. Parker is not to blame today. We have seen enough again for us to be competitive all season, it's the stupid passages of play and key errors that are killing us."
- Goody1975
"We need to sort our defending out at set pieces because this is getting beyond a fucking joke! It's costing us time and time again, costing us points in the process. We seem incapable of learning and just rinse and repeat every single game. It's simply miles off and nowhere near good enough."
- THEWELLERNUT70
"I really though Michael Salisbury appeared to give free kicks to West Ham for any contact but not the other way round. Also the booking for Zian (I think) in the second half for a very similar foul that a WH player committed in the first half seemed inconsistent given the WH player wasn't booked. I was irked by the fact he blew the whistle straight from the kick off at the end of the game. There was at least a minute left of additional time which was eaten up by the VAR check. I'm not daft enough to think we'd have scored in that time but I think we should have had the chance to try, at least."
- Goddy
"'Keeper needs to hold his hands up for the second and third, take your pick who to blame for switching off for the first. In those moments, not good enough, over the course of the game, we should have won comfortably and plenty good enough."
- Luppy
"We had 64% possession from minutes 71 to 90 after our subs, we had more shots, and we only conceded due to two howlers from Dubravka. So it is a bit hard to pin the blame on the subs.
- CrosspoolClarets
"The fact we conceded three poor goals is the proof we aren't good enough. You can't need to score threes and fours to beat the other relegation fodder. We don't seem capable of holding a lead. Whether that's the players or Parker I don't know, but you just knew we wouldn't get to half time 1-0 up. Ultimately though, we just can't beat proper established PL clubs. We haven't done that with any consistency since Dyche was manager, since when we've won eight and five of those came against other promoted clubs (Sheff U x2, Luton, Sunderland, Leeds). Take those games away and we've won three in 43 against proper PL clubs. And we wonder why we struggle..."
- jlup1980
"Played well, conceded some shocking goals in a nutshell. I'll refrain from making any kind of criticism because you get accused of being a walloper or something ridiculous. Needless to say this is not a game we should've lost."
- willsclarets
"Piss poor defending and goalkeeping in a crucial game. Regardless of how Dubravka has performed previously, that’s the story of today."
- hoskinsgoalatswansea
"Fulham, Leeds, us, West Ham, Forest and Wolves. I think Wolves are going down. Forest will pull away under Dyche. Are we going to get enough points to finish above two of these three; Fulham, Leeds and West Ham? Today was disappointing as was the Villa game. I think our central midfield and defence is mid table. However, it's looking like we will go down around 30 points."
- Bada Bing
"An absolute disaster of a result. Defensively we’re a shambles, particularly away from home."
- ksrclaret
"Well, that’s that! We’re as good as down then (apparently)."
- Procrastinate B
"It's an absolute disaster for us. These games are far and few between. A point would have been bad but this is disastrous. We'll be in the relegation zone soon and that'll be it."
- tarkys_ears
"I read the other day that our expected goals against is by far and away the worst in the Premier League. That’s what’s not good enough. Nowhere near."
- ksrclaret
"Broja: Two touches in 14 minutes against Arsenal, eight touches in 19 minutes against WHU..."
- wilks_bfc
"Scoring goals this season won't be our downfall as we are mid-table in that respect. Sunderland haven't scored any more than us. It's letting them in that's killing us."
- Spijed
"Dubravka has been absolutely flawless all season, but two huge errors today."
- G0foste
"My first and last visit to the London Stadium today. Not sour grapes because of the result, but has to be the worst away ground experience ever (and I've been to Mansfield). Makes you realise how lucky we actually are to have historic Turf Moor as our home ground and just a few minutes stroll from the nearest pubs and town centre. It may not be perfect, but I'd seriously jack my ST in if we ever had to play all our home games in a soulless concrete bowl in the middle of fricking nowhere."
- Vintage Claret
"Heading back from the concourse at the start of the second half, they [the stewards] had pulled a barrier halfway across the gangway to narrow it and there was a big scrum of people trying to get down whilst they insisted on checking tickets."
- aggi
"The distance from stands to pitch is almost too great to being able to identify players and see what’s happening in an attack."
- warksclaret
"I thought we played well against tough opponents who are finally finding their feet. They beat Newcastle last week, didn’t they? It was never going to be an easy game, but that first half was great apart from their goal. Second half wasn’t as good, but we’re not going to dominate games like the top six. Their goals were all avoidable though, and that’s the learning point for us."
- Rick_Muller
"Losing to a poor team like West Ham doesn’t make the Chelsea game a free hit. No chance we win that game though. It’s no good just playing well in patches. I’m wondering if the set piece coach is on sick leave."
- Boss Hogg
"Hackney wick is a decent spot, but the ground? Awful."
- RVclaret
"if we're not taking something from the current basket case, which is West Ham, then we're in trouble. Notwithstanding that we literally gifted them the game. It's a very, very poor result whichever way you look at it and a massive confidence sapper in a way that last Saturday's result never would be."
- Dark Cloud
"Crumbled. Sat back from a position of strength and we've seen that before. Played some really lovely stuff but our inability to defend corners/crosses means in the end we lose to a very poor West Ham side."
- Pickles
"West Ham were there for the taking, SP’s subs were a mystery unfortunately he reverts to type when we’re winning instead of going for the jugular."
- Holmechapel
"Sat on a delayed train at Euston feeling like we've thrown away a chance of beating a very poor West Ham team. The big difference was that they had two wingers who were prepared to take their full backs on. I thought Summerville and to a lesser extent Bowen took the game to us and played really well."
- expoultryboy
"West Ham in poor form and they put three past us. We just gave them three points and momentum."
- Scamander
*Comments originally published at www.uptheclarets.com.
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