West Ham United’s performance in Sunday’s defeat to Manchester City was simply not up to the standard expected of the team’s players, according to head coach Matt Beard.
The Irons were punished by City in the opening half and went in four goals down at half-time, before eventually losing the contest 5-0 at the Academy Stadium.
Beard was frustrated by his team’s efforts and believes it is urgent that his Hammers find some consistency in the coming games.
“The performance wasn’t good enough," Beard said. “We’ve let ourselves down and we’ve let the Club down. It’s super frustrating because we are better than what we have produced today.
We’ve let ourselves down and we’ve let the Club down. It’s super frustrating because we are better than what we have produced today.
Matt Beard
“We can’t keep doing what we’ve been doing. We can’t keep having good periods for ten minutes and then poor periods for 10-15 minutes. We’ve got to get some consistency in our game. I felt we started the game brightly. We got into good positions and played some good stuff, but then we concede from a corner and we fold like a pack of cards for a period.
“Man City are a team that are really aggressive when they get their tails up. They are relentless in their press and the way that they play. Then we stopped doing the things we’d set up to do. If you give Manchester City the respect and time like that then they are going to punish you. If we don’t stick to the bare principles of the game plan, then you’re going to get beat and punished.”
West Ham had to travel to Manchester without Martha Thomas or Cho So-hyun, having lost both in the week due to injury, while unexpected circumstances meant the team’s preparations for Sunday’s match were severely hindered.
Kitman Paul Glibbery was involved in a traffic collision while travelling north for Sunday’s match, and while paramedics gave him the all-clear following the incident, the decision was made for Glibbery not to join the team for this weekend’s fixture.
Beard added: “We’ve had a tough 48 hours with Cho and Martha getting injured and the incident with our kitman yesterday coming up, which meant it wasn’t the best journey for everyone. I don’t know if that has had an effect on our performance today but it’s definitely a factor.
“The most important thing is that Paul is okay and recovering and, on behalf of everyone at West Ham United women’s team, we send him our love and hope to have him back with us very soon.”