Mark Robson was left disappointed that West Ham United U21s couldn’t take the chances that they created in the opening 20 minutes of their 3-0 defeat by Liverpool on Sunday afternoon.
The development side could have been two goals in front early on at Rush Green Stadium, but both Kamarai Swyer and Keenan Appiah-Forson were both denied one-on-one by Liverpool goalkeeper, Harvey Davies.
After the save to deny Appiah-Forson, Liverpool took the lead, with Jake Cain firing in superbly on 22 minutes – and from then on, the U21s struggled for superiority.
The away side added a second 14 minutes later, and then completed the rout in the second half when Calvin Ramsay fired in to make for a difficult second 45 minutes for the young Hammers.
The Hammers struggled for possession in the second half, and were consigned to their ninth Premier League 2 defeat of the season.
Lead Coach, Robson, reflected on the defeat at the full-time whistle…
I’m frustrated with the result because we started the game really well.
We should have been two or three goals up inside the first twenty minutes with the fantastic chances that we had.
I think the one-on-ones have to hit the back of the net, and then that makes for a completely different game.
We were disappointed to come in at half-time being behind because I’ve spoken to the lads about being more ruthless in the final third. We need to make sure we take the opportunities when they come around, and we didn’t do that today.
It’s a tough result to take
We’ve been like this for most of the season now where we haven’t been able to put chances away.
Our players are still developing, and that’s obviously important, but there comes a point where the players have to start bringing that quality and expertise that you need to move onto the next level.
We need that in the U21s team at the moment, and we’re not getting it right now.
I wouldn’t even say that we’re lacking confidence, we’re just not making the right decisions in the final third.
It’s just not quite going right for us at the moment
Things really aren’t falling for us at the moment, but we have to keep going.
The good thing is that we could have been three goals up against Liverpool and going into half-time in a really good place.
It’s then a much different contest and we’re not having to chase the game.
I was a little disappointed with the way we reacted after the third goal
I felt like the team felt a little bit sorry for itself after they scored, that for me was the biggest disappointment. I wanted to see the players roll their sleeves up and show what characters we had within the team. I didn’t feel as though we had that in the second half today.
