Saturday 9 November 2019 20:37, UK
Manuel Pellegrini admitted West Ham's recent run of form has begun to worry him as they slumped to a fourth loss in five games at Burnley.
The Hammers had little excuse for such a poor performance against a side nearly as out of form as themselves, with Burnley beaten in their previous three games ahead of Saturday's encounter.
A series of poor individual errors saw them 3-0 down seven minutes after half-time but their second-half performance should have condemned them to a more significant defeat, and only a number of saves from Roberto and some wayward Burnley finishing saved them from further humiliation.
Since moving joint-third with a 2-0 win over Manchester United on September 22, West Ham have picked up only one point from six games, conceding 13 goals and scoring only six in that period, and have slumped to 16th in the Premier League table.
"Of course it is a concern how the performances have dipped," Manuel Pellegrini told Sky Sports. "It's a very difficult moment, but we have to perform as a team. In this moment we have a lot of poor performances from a lot of players and now we are trying to recover, not only the results but the trust too.
"I don't know if today was unacceptable, but there were big mistakes for the goals. The first goal a set-piece, it was a corner which was not a corner so that was a mistake from the referee, but we must defend it anyway. Then there were two very big mistakes.
"It's more than confidence, we are conceding too many goals. Three against Newcastle, three set-pieces. If you concede so many difficult goals, it is very difficult to win."
In West Ham's next home game after their Manchester United win, a suckerpunch last-minute winner from Crystal Palace stunned the London Stadium at the start of their run of poor form.
With the Hammers having picked up 11 points from their opening six games and only two from their next half-dozen, midfielder Declan Rice told Sky Sports that loss had proved a pivotal moment in their season to date.
He said: "We've been like that since the Palace game, the last five games. Nowhere near good enough, from the start of the season when we had that high, we haven't kicked on and we've been poor, there's no two ways about it.
"It's hard to say why or put it down to one thing. We train really hard during the week, there's been a real buzz about the place, but it gets to the game and it looks like when we go 1-0 down our heads drop. We need to learn, we've been in this situation last year. Do the basics, get back to the basics - the running, the tackling, the five-yard passes.
"I'm sure the manager will get the players together and we'll be working really hard."
Sky Sports' Ron Walker:
"The way West Ham capitulated after they had conceded their third goal against Burnley was nearly as worrying as the performance to that point. They totally collapsed, their confidence is clearly at rock-bottom and too many big players on big wages are not performing.
"Last season's star Felipe Anderson was hooked early again and has managed just three assists and no goals all season, this summer's big signing Sebastian Haller was barely involved and Issa Diop and Fabian Balbuena look like total strangers.
"One win will move them right back into contention and the confidence that will bring will be huge, but their next three opponents are Tottenham, Chelsea, Wolves and Arsenal. It's not going to get any easier."
