Bilic’s left with empty feeling
WEST HAM may have work to do on stewarding at their new home, but one thing they don’t have to address is ease of exit.
Hammers fans found it all too easy to leave before the end of this horror show as they streamed for the exits long before the final whistle. With several minutes to go, the only section of the London Stadium still full was the one in which the away fans were waiting to hail their team.
The banks of empty seats were a testament to the visitors’ remarkable display. But worryingly, a large number of Hammers supporters had clearly decided quite early that Slaven Bilic’s team were not going to mount the sort of comeback Watford had done when they hit back from 2-0 down to level by half-time before adding two more.
What concerned Bilic – apart from the issues of spectator segregation following scuffles between rival fans and problems with home supporters being told not to stand – was his team’s defending, and he was not sure what to do about the individual errors that had cost goals.
But once he has scrutinised footage, he may decide that Sam Byram, who had a torrid time, would benefit from a rest and opportunity to watch and learn from Alvaro Arbeloa once the experienced former Spain right-back
WEST HAM
is fit enough to take over. “We just stopped defending – sometimes as a unit but to me it was more like mistakes by the back four,” Bilic said. “We don’t have to start from lesson one. We’re talking about the same players as last year who were so good in defence. All of them. “Defence is all about basics and help from the midfield and attack. We had it last year and there’s no need to panic. Instead of talking about our goals, our great second, now because of our lack of quality that phase of the game is forgotten.”
Not entirely. Dimitri Payet’s rabona cross for Michail Antonio, above, to head his second that earned a 2-0 lead will be shown on many highlight reels, but in the end the man who made the difference was Watford’s Roberto Pereyra. On his first start since his £11.2m move from Juventus, the Argentinian broke forward repeatedly from midfield to create chances with a series of dangerous crosses.
One ball to Odion Ighalo brought a fine save from Adrian, and it was Pereyra’s cross that led to Etienne Capoue giving Watford the lead after half-time following goals from Ighalo and Troy Deeney. Only another save by Adrian denied Pereyra.
“I am very happy with Pereyra,” said boss Walter Mazzarri after a first league win topped by Jose Holebas’s strike. “He’s a great player. I’m happy with how much he ran. I wanted him at all costs.”
WEST HAM (4-2-3-1):
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