Jarrod Bowen insisted he and his West Ham United teammates will keep fighting to turn their difficult start to the season around following Saturday’s narrow 2-1 defeat at home to Crystal Palace.
After Jean-Philippe Mateta had nodded the Eagles in front in the 37th minute, following an initial Marc Guéhi header that deflected off Maximilian Kilman and was pushed onto the crossbar by Alphonse Areola, our captain notched the equaliser with a header of his own just four minutes into the second half.
Bowen’s second goal of the season, and the 58th of his career in the Premier League, sparked a strong spell for the Irons, with Lucas Paquetá and Kyle Walker-Peters both going close, but the game’s momentum suddenly swung in Palace’s favour when Tyrick Mitchell volleyed what proved to be the winner past Areola 22 minutes from the death.
A third successive home defeat leaves West Ham 18th in the table after five matches, as things stand, and ahead of a trip to Everton next, Bowen is clear that the hard work and honest conversations in training will continue.
“I’ve been in football for about ten years now, and every time you go through a rough patch, I think it’s important you look at yourself in the mirror,” he said.
“If things are going well it’s easy to ride the wave and go along with things, and when they’re not, that’s when you need to show character. That’s what I’m trying to do - looking at how I can help the situation and make things improve.
“Ultimately, as players, we’re the ones going out there on the pitch week in, week out, and we can’t have any excuses. We can have all the tactics in the world, but when we go out there, it’s our time, and it’s down to our decision making. That includes everyone in the squad.
“So, for me, it’s down to us, and we’ve all spoken about that. We know that we’re the ones who can change things, and for sure we’re going to keep doing our best to turn things around.”
Having sensed the surge of positivity within London Stadium after his equalising goal, Bowen acknowledged that it’s up to him and his teammates to give the supporters more moments to shout about as the season progresses going forward.
And from an attacking point of view, he is looking for more ruthlessness in front of goal, in order to capitalise on their good periods in games and get points on the board.
Bowen added: “What we do on the pitch goes hand in hand with the fans. They come to watch us, and they want to be entertained and to see positivity on the pitch. They want to see effort and hard work, and we understand that.
“At the start of the second half, that was there, and they had something to shout about. I’ve been here for a long time now, and I’ve experienced games where the crowd have really come with us, and like I said, it’s up to us to give them a reason for that reaction.
“We know Palace are a good side, but even when they scored the first goal, I thought if we kept working, we’d have chances, and then we got ourselves in a good position. We felt like we had control of the game, and then they punished us in the way they did, which is really disappointing.
“All that good work then just goes, and even though we had more chances, we couldn’t get that second goal. Ultimately, it’s another disappointing day, but we’ll keep working, and we’ll be ready to go again next week.”
