Robert Snodgrass admitted to being ‘bitterly disappointed’ by the nature of West Ham United’s 2-0 Premier League defeat by Watford on Saturday.
The Hammers dominated for long periods at London Stadium, had 18 goal attempts, hit the woodwork on two occasions and found Hornets goalkeeper Ben Foster in inspired form.
After Troy Deeney had fired the visitors in front from the penalty spot, the former England international kept out efforts from Chicharito and Arthur Masuaku before making top-class saves from Snodgrass and Andy Carroll headers late on.
Those stops paved the way for Gerard Deulofeu to make the game safe with a low strike three minutes from full-time, adding to the Scotland midfielder’s frustration.
It’s just bitterly disappointing because we have created chances, we’ve hit the bar, we’ve hit the post and their ‘keeper has pulled off unbelievable saves, so it’s one of those games
Robert Snodgrass
“I thought it was two teams who were going for it and they simply took their chances [and we didn’t],” he observed. “They had the penalty and we had a few chances, then they had a few, so it was a game where both sets of players were going for it and put it all on the line. Teams want to be in the top ten and that’s what we’re aiming for.
“The first one is a penalty and it’s one of those situations where we found ourselves behind. I don’t think we started the game well, but I just think we need to take our chances at this level if we want to have any chance of being in that top-six position, which was achievable when you look at the results we’ve had over the last few weeks and if we’d made it five in five.
“It’s just bitterly disappointing because we have created chances, we’ve hit the bar, we’ve hit the post and their ‘keeper has pulled off unbelievable saves, so it’s one of those games.
“It’s back to the drawing board and we’ve got to come back from what is obviously a bad result.”
Foster was not the only goalkeeper on top form, as Lukasz Fabianski also made super saves to deny Roberto Pereyra, Abdoulaye Doucoure and Deeney as West Ham left spaces at the back in their search for a second half equaliser.
“Foster has kept his side in the match and Fab, our ‘keeper, has kept us in the match as well,” said the No11. “It’s swings and roundabouts and at this vital moment of the season, if we’d picked up a point, a point is a good result and it would have kept our unbeaten run going.
“It’s hard because we have created chances but we left ourselves open and we were disappointed with their second goal.”
Snodgrass says West Ham will not allow one bad result to dent their confidence ahead of trips to Southampton and Burnley after Christmas, particularly as their away form has been good in recent weeks.
“I think you’ve seen our results away from home at places like Newcastle, Everton and Fulham,” he said, pointing to the Irons’ three away Premier League wins this season. “We’ve done well away from home, so we’ll play like a team who believes we should be in the top ten.
“That won’t change and we’ll try to build on those performances and come back from a bad result.”