#2 Injuries cannot mar a poor Hammers performance
The Hammers were without a host of important players before the game and their list of injury woes grows longer as Jack Collins hobbled off in the 7th minute. The Hammers remain without a win in the league since their home victory over Sunderland in the month of October and things are not looking up as expected for Slaven Bilic, the manager.
Michail Antonio, Aaron Cresswell, Cheikhou Kouyaté and Diafra Sakho were all unavailable for West Ham but that still doesn’t explain the lack of concentration. Bilic termed the performance as the most humiliating result he has ever had to endure as the Hammers manager and straight talking Croat made no excuses for the poor performance.
Bilic gravely apologised for his team’s performance and one hopes that this result will be a wake-up call as they continue to hover over the relegation zone. Summing up the game, Bilic stated, “I am not looking for excuses. Yes, we had injuries and mistakes, but we were not good enough.”
Irrespective of that, Carroll’s well-taken goal was indicative of the positive play being rewarded and the Hammers would do well to remember that there was a period in the game in which they dominated the Gunners before being outrun and outgunned.
