We need to look at ourselves in the mirror
Jose Fonte apologised to West Ham’s fans for the 3- 0 defeat by Brighton on Friday night, which left a huge question mark over manager Slaven Bilic’s future.
Hammers boss Bilic admitted his job could be on the line after a humiliating loss at home to the newly- promoted Seagulls.
But defender Fonte said the players must take responsibility and bounce back against Tottenham in the Carabao Cup on Wednesday.
“We are all disappointed, we are all frustrated and we apologise,” Fonte said.
“It was not the performance we wanted to produce and it wasn’t the performance the fans deserve.
“We need to look at ourselves in the mirror because this cannot happen. It happened a few times last season and we have to put this right.
“We have got to move on. We have a game on Wednesday and we need to go and beat Spurs because we have to react, we have to bounce back.”
The rot set in when Glenn Murray was left unmarked to nod in a Pascal Gross free- kick after just 10 minutes.
Jose Izquierdo curled in the second in first-half stoppage time and Murray finished West Ham off with a 75th-minute penalty.
While they were clinical in attack, Brighton also defended superbly with Shane Duffy and Lewis Dunk barely giving £16m Mexico striker Javier Hernandez a kick.
David Sullivan gave boss Bilic a vote of confidence before the match against Brighton, but he must now be having second thoughts.
The Hammers’ humiliating home defeat, and the shambolic performance which caused it, left Bilic facing the prospect of the axe.
Joint- owner Sullivan had said Bilic deserved at least to see out his contract until the end of the season, but the whiff of relegation trouble will surely change that.
However, Bilic insisted: “I’m not going to pinpoint players.
“I’m the manager and I don’t want to run away from the fact that it’s my responsibility, and I take full responsibility.
“But, of course, I can’t be happy with that performance.”
Asked whether he will be given time to sort the mess out, Bilic added: “I don’t know. What’s going to happen is not in my hands.
“I can’t comment. All I can say is on one hand I believe in myself, my work and my team, but on the other when you lose 3- 0 to Brighton I can’t be happy with anything.”