Noble: We keep shooting ourselves in the foot


Mark Noble said West Ham United only had themselves to blame after falling to a 4-2 defeat at AFC Wimbledon in the Emirates FA Cup fourth round on Saturday.

The Hammers were well below bar in falling to a 3-0 deficit early in the second half at the Cherry Red Records Stadium, and although they showed some spirit to cut the deficit to one goal before the Dons sealed the contest, it was a case of too little, too late for the skipper.

He felt the Hammers did not show their League One opponents the level of respect they deserved and said they cannot afford to make that a regular habit.

“It’s just really disappointing,” he admitted. “We didn’t play well at all until we made some changes, but apart from that we were poor.

“I said numerous times that when you turn up at a place like this you’re going to have to fight before you can try and play and do the nice stuff, but we keep shooting ourselves in the foot.

“We keep getting good results, and then go away to Burnley, go away to Bournemouth and not pick up the results we need to, or show the teams as much respect as we should and that’s what cost us today.

“It shouldn’t matter whether they’re up for it or not if we play to our capabilities. If we fight as hard as them they shouldn’t be able to beat us, but we didn’t do that and that’s why they won.

“Now you look to the Premier League and Wolves away is another tough game. We’ll get going this morning, assess the players and obviously we’ve got to put this behind us now and concentrate on the league.

“We’re ninth at the minute so we’re sitting well but you want a cup run and Saturday wasn’t good enough. Everyone knows that and we’ve got to put it behind us.