Alan Pardew expressed bitter disappointment and anger after
his team suffered a second successive heavy defeat in the
Premiership against Portsmouth on Saturday.
The Hammers boss couldn't hide his frustration as he reflected on a 4-2 defeat against Harry Redknapp's relegation strugglers, and admitted the result would sour any glory we manage to achieve in Monday's FA Cup quarter-final against Manchester City.
"There are no excuses for that performance," he said. "It wasn't good enough and I told the players that.
"We have a young team, and one or two maybe had their eye on Monday night - and you just can not do it at this level.
"We thought we'd learned a lesson at Bolton last week but we fell into the same trap today and I've got to say that I'm bitterly disappointed about some of the performances today.
"Quite frankly, I will take no pleasure if we win at Manchester City on Monday night after that display. If we do win, great, but there will be a bitter taste in the mouth after what I have seen today.
"I have often defended my players, but I can't today. Too many of them didn't give me their all, and the only defence I can offer is that we have a lot of young guys who haven't been in this position before.
"The fans turned up and paid good money to watch us - and we let them down big time. We had a hangover after Bolton last week and managed to overcome it - only time will tell if we can overcome this one."
The Hammers boss couldn't hide his frustration as he reflected on a 4-2 defeat against Harry Redknapp's relegation strugglers, and admitted the result would sour any glory we manage to achieve in Monday's FA Cup quarter-final against Manchester City.
"There are no excuses for that performance," he said. "It wasn't good enough and I told the players that.
"We have a young team, and one or two maybe had their eye on Monday night - and you just can not do it at this level.
"We thought we'd learned a lesson at Bolton last week but we fell into the same trap today and I've got to say that I'm bitterly disappointed about some of the performances today.
"Quite frankly, I will take no pleasure if we win at Manchester City on Monday night after that display. If we do win, great, but there will be a bitter taste in the mouth after what I have seen today.
"I have often defended my players, but I can't today. Too many of them didn't give me their all, and the only defence I can offer is that we have a lot of young guys who haven't been in this position before.
"The fans turned up and paid good money to watch us - and we let them down big time. We had a hangover after Bolton last week and managed to overcome it - only time will tell if we can overcome this one."