Jarrod Bowen knows his words will fall on deaf ears following West Ham United’s 3-0 Premier League opening-day defeat at Sunderland.
The captain gave his all for his team, as he always does, and came close to scoring what could have been a pivotal goal in the first half to silence a loud home crowd at the Stadium of Light.
But he did not find the net, nor did his teammates, and Sunderland scored three second-half goals to leave the skipper angry, frustrated and demanding more from every single player in a West Ham shirt.
Of course, 100 per cent effort and commitment should be a non-negotiable – it is with Bowen – and he told West Ham TV only by performing with character, determination and pride will the Irons perform well enough to win Premier League matches.
With a home fixture with Chelsea to start 2025/26 at London Stadium next up on Friday evening, the No20 says the reaction to Saturday’s humbling defeat on Wearside must be immediate, with no excuses, and actions speaking far, far louder than words.
“I’m obviously fuming,” Bowen began. “It’s the start of the season, they’re obviously on a high and in the Premier League, if you don't take your opportunities, it's only a matter of time [before your opponents do]. If you don't defend well enough [they score], and I thought the goals were quite easy, and we're all disappointed on the manner that we conceded the goals. You're going to lose games at this level if that happens. So obviously, I’m disappointed and fuming with the start that we've had today.”
After West Ham edged the first half chances-wise, Sunderland’s first two goals came from long, diagonal crosses which were headed in by Eliezer Mayenda and Dan Ballard above challenges from Irons defenders. The third, from Wilson Isidor, came at the end of a late counter.
“It was just about us priding ourselves on keeping the ball out the back of our net,” Bowen observed. “In any situation, the strikers, midfielders, defenders, everyone as a whole, as a team, should be keeping the ball out the back of our net. Because if you create your opportunities like we did, if you defend well and keep the ball out the back of the net, you'll probably go on and win the game
“I think in the first half, we had our opportunities, and we felt we had another gear to go up into the second half, but ultimately we didn't do that, then we conceded the goals, and we ended up losing three in the second half.
“We probably had the better of the opportunities in the first half. We probably expected a reaction for them to come out a little bit quicker and a little bit faster. We had a couple of bits of play where we turned the ball over and it was just that little bit slower, more lethargic than probably what the first half was. I think they fed on that. Whether it would be them turning the ball over and them running behind and the crowd getting up, then they put balls in the box and scored their goals from it.
“So, I just don't think we started the second half with the same intensity as the first half. That's annoying on our behalf, because that's the mindset thing from us as a group of players, to keep going, to make sure we win this game, because we knew we didn't have time coming in. If we'd done what we'd done in the first half in the second, we'd win the game, but we didn't do that.”
Bowen knows supporters do not want to hear excuses after defeats, and he also knows his team need to be at their best from start to finish against Chelsea on Friday evening.
“You don't want to fall in the rut of, it's the early end of the season,” he observed. “You want to put it right straight away. We wanted to put it right today. But we haven't. And you don't want to say, we'll be better next week, we'll do this, we'll do that, because we have to be. There are no excuses. You want to put it right, and we have an opportunity to do that at home Friday night.
“Tough opponent, we know that. But we're at home, we can use our advantages. And we have to look at ourselves and be better. You're going into that game, coming off the back of losing 3-0 in the first game of the season, so if that doesn't gee you up, and that doesn't make you want to give a reaction from inside, then we've got somewhere wrong. So we have to react well for Friday.
“The fans will be most disappointed out of everyone. And coming up here today, they're expecting more. We all need to give them more. So they probably don't want to hear me saying this now. They want to see it on the pitch. That's the message that we have to give ourselves. But we have to react.
“We know they'll turn up Friday. They stand by us through thick and thin. I spoke about the other day, that the bad times made the good times as a team. But like I said, they probably don't want to hear me.
“So we keep going. They want to see it. And I share that message. I want to see it as well. I want to see reactions. I want us to be better. And that starts again Friday.”
