Fan blogger Joe Difford reflects on Saturday's defeat at Watford...
Having taken all three points off the reigning Premier League champions just a week ago, the away end of Vicarage Road was stunned into silence Saturday, as Odion Ighalo netted twice in a 2-0 loss.
Slaven Bilic didn’t make any drastic changes to the side, and why would he? The eleven men who faced Chelsea fought admirably and showed exactly why we are doing so well in the table.
The same starting formation was used, this time with the deadly trio of Dimitri Payet, Manuel Lanzini and Victor Moses behind the man who won us the game against the Blues, Andy Carroll.
But sadly, once again, lady luck seemed intent on ensuring the Hammers left Watford without a point, by handing the Hornets two goals on a plate.
The first came when Andy Carroll attempted to clear the ball, and missed it, forcing him to panic, try a sort of turn we’re used to Payet executing up the other end of the field, before an opportunistic Watford man punished us.
The second goal again was too frustrating to believe, as a cross was a millimetre out of reach for James Tomkins, who was forced to stab at the ball with the back of his heel, allowing Ighalo to turn and smash home.
If you try to find a positive in Saturday afternoon’s game, you might struggle, with Bilic himself even criticising the performance.
But it is important, albeit difficult, to remember that the goals were freak accidents and there is no huge cause for concern, after all, we did beat the champions.
What does need to change, however, is the way in which we start games against so called lesser teams. Having flown out of the blocks against Arsenal, Liverpool, Manchester City, Newcastle and Chelsea, all of the games we have won if you notice, we set the tempo of the game and grew in confidence.
Against the newly promoted sides in particular, however, we have been too casual, perhaps under the illusion that the game will be less difficult, or perhaps it is just the opposition were fired up to defeat the giant killers that we have become.
When you go on a run of seven games unbeaten, it is inevitably going to come to an end and although Saturday’s loss was disappointing, it is important to remember that yes, we were unbeaten in seven.
Next week’s game is a tough tie against Everton, who will be full of confidence having thrashed Sunderland 6-2, but as we saw on Saturday, you can’t possibly predict a Premier League game.
Bilic doesn’t need to make any drastic changes, except perhaps to give Carroll a strike partner, as he looked a little isolated at times at the weekend.
If we weren’t third in the league when we dropped points to Watford, perhaps it would be okay to worry, but our start to the season has been record-breaking.
After Everton comes a much-anticipated tie against Spurs, so there is a lot to look forward to.
With Alex Song, Winston Reid, Angelo Ogbonna, Diafra Sakho and Michail Antonio all ready to return or feature, things can only get better, and that is a wonderful thing to be able to say when we’re sitting in the top six.
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The views in this article are those of the author and not necessarily those of West Ham United