Jarrod Bowen certainly wasn’t wrong when he said, “I don’t think we were at the level we’ve set over the last few weeks.”
Because West Ham were well off the pace against a winless Aston Villa team who, it’s fair to say, had been reinvigorated by the return of key players.
The Hammers captain was at a loss to put his finger on why his team never really contested a game in which West Ham lost all the key battles. Manager Nuno Espírito Santo was clearly frustrated and spoke of his players ‘losing duels’, and it was a major worry how little intensity the team had.
Lack of fight costs West Ham dearly
With the exclusion of Dino Mavropanos, the team lacked the sort of spirit and fight which had become the hallmark of recent West Ham performances. It’s fair to say that even the losses to Chelsea and Liverpool were still contested, but at Villa Park, we just never turned up.
Bowen said, “We can’t get caught up using that as an excuse. We just have to face it now that we weren’t good enough for whatever reason.”
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He’s right, of course. Let’s just hope it’s a one-off, but there’s no doubt about it — Forest and Leeds will be enjoying the international break far more than West Ham.