Moyes has as many problems on the pitch trying to plug the leak

WHATEVER problems West Ham have off the field — and there are plenty — they have almost as many on it.

A horrible, toxic afternoon at the London Stadium means all the focus will be on protests, pitch invasions, and potential FA inquiries.

But as manager David Moyes takes his players away to Florida this week for warm-weather training he has to find a way to stop his team leaking goals.

Chris Wood helped himself to two after making the first for Ashley Barnes as Burnley dominated the last half hour.

That made it 15 conceded in the last three games.

When the going got tough West Ham crumbled.

Their midfield stopped picking up runners and their defenders were bullied by Wood.

At least Moyes is honest about the problems that are his responsibility. He said: ‘We were one goal down in a game we had dominated and with a good chance to get back.

‘But we lost a second within a minute. We need to do better defensively, we need to do better as a team.

‘Of course the protests and people on the pitch didn’t help, but we can’t use that as an excuse for conceding a goal straight after it. I’ve told the players that we are sticking together. When I got here we were in the bottom three and we aren’t now and we have matches left to stay that way.’

West Ham actually dominated the first half and events could have been very different had they taken their chances.

But Marko Arnautovic hit a shot far too near to Burnley’s excellent keeper Nick Pope when Joao Mario put him through, then Manuel Lanzini did the same.

And the midfield lacked legs. When Mark Noble released Arnautovic, the Austrian did brilliantly to hold off three challenges but not a single player got forward to support him.

Hammers had a warning when Barnes had a goal ruled out for the narrowest of offside decisions shortly after half-time. And when Burnley boss Sean Dyche sent on Wood — who a week ago had changed the game against Everton — West Ham failed to react.

‘It was a tough call over whether Woody started,’ said Dyche, ‘but I felt we might need to be more compact earlier on and then could change things.

‘We are still new to the Premier League and we have to find different ways to win games.’

His plan worked perfectly. Wood outpaced Angelo Ogbonna to Matt Lowton’s long ball before squaring it for Barnes to fire in his third in as many games. The kick-off was delayed for the first of the pitch invasions, but within a minute West Ham’s defence had melted and Wood turned home Aaron Lennon’s cross. After that the football was almost secondary, but Burnley kept their discipline and wrapped it up when Joe Hart spilled Johann Berg Gudmundsson’s 25-yard shot into Wood’s path.