Stadium of lost souls
HAMMERS HAUNTED BY PAST FAILURES
MANUEL PELLEGRINI fears the ghosts of last season are coming back to haunt West Ham after they were beaten at home by Bournemouth to sit bottom of the Premier League.
The Hammers may have spent £100million but they already look in trouble after their new signings flopped at a soulless London Stadium.
Having been pummelled 4-0 by Liverpool last week they threw away a 1-0 lead against a vibrant Cherries side inspired by striker Callum Wilson.
Not even a 33rd-minute penalty from Marko Arnautovic was enough to change the atmosphere as Bournemouth roared into the top three. Now new boss Pellegrini has urged fans and players to forget about last year’s disastrous campaign, in which they narrowly avoided relegation, and think about the future. He said: “We knew before that we need time – when you have so many new players, a new manager and a new style of play. But most of all we need to forget last season.
“I think last season is still on the players’ minds. That was one of the reasons why we changed so much in the second half, trying to keep 1-0 instead trying to score a second.”
Fans groaned at the final whistle but even when the home team were ahead the atmosphere was pretty dead – not what you would expect after such an exciting summer in the transfer market.
Jack Wilshere, Lukasz Fabianski, Fabian Balbuena and Felipe Anderson all made home debuts while Carlos Sanchez, Andriy Yarmolenko and Lucas Perez joined them from the bench. But for most of the match you could have heard a pin drop. What will frustrate Pellegrini the most is that his side were pretty good in the first half. Javier Hernandez had two efforts saved and won a penalty when fouled by Nathan Ake, which Arnautovic despatched with aplomb. Bournemouth still created at least three good chances on the break but West Ham didn’t heed the warnings. Instead, the Cherries dominated the second half as the Hammers got more nervy at the back. It was a tough baptism for the new signings – and Balbuena had the toughest day of all against Wilson. The Cherries striker scored a 60th-minute stunner when he picked up the ball in midfield, beat four West Ham defenders and fired past Fabianski.
Then Bournemouth went ahead six minutes later when a Ryan Fraser free-kick from the right was headed home by defender Steve Cook.
Manager Eddie Howe said: “Callum’s individual moment of brilliance swung the game in our favour, it as a very good goal – a very good finish at the end of a great run.
“His partnership with Josh King is really developing.
“We have never won here before and it was a very good afternoon for us. I would like to give our players credit rather than criticise West Ham because they are a good side.”