Fan blogger Joe Difford looks back at Saturday's game against Swansea City
Fan blogger Joe Difford looks back at Saturday’s game against Swansea City…
It is fair to say that no Hammers fan watching at home or in the Boleyn Ground expected the outcome of Saturday's game, and by this season's high standards, it was a frustrating penultimate game at Upton Park.
We dominated possession from the off and looked far more likely to score, with Dimitri Payet putting in a handful of dangerous crosses and testing Fabianski with a powerful drive to the goalkeeper's left.
As we approached the half hour mark, Swansea got forward and had one of their first efforts of the game, and it went and ended up in the back of the net. Attacking down the left hand side, the Swans exploited Michail Antonio, who was filling in at right back, and a cross was laid off to Wayne Routledge who tapped home.
Antonio has been our most explosive, eye-catching wide man this season, so he couldn't help but charge forward on occasion, leaving a gap that the visitors cleverly ran into at every chance.
The second goal was the same, Stephen Kingsley whipping in a perfect cross from the left and Andre Ayew volleyed into the far corner with just Aaron Cresswell anywhere near him.
Slaven Bilic has since come out and declared his anger at the performance, and it is easy to see why. But you can't fail to give credit to Swansea who were well drilled, smart and clinical, taking advantage of any lapse in concentration we suffered.
Ki Sung-Yueng added a third to silence the Boleyn Ground, and despite Diafra Sakho working hard to pull one back, although the last touch came off a Swansea defender, substitute Bafetimbi Gomis sealed the win in the last few seconds.
Yes, it was a thoroughly disappointing result, but we have been spoiled this season with such wonderful performances and beautiful football, that we aren't really used to comprehensive losses.
You can look at the score line of Saturday's tie and think that Bilic's men were terrible, but we did dominate for large parts of the game and certainly created enough chances to win it, but the visitors defended well and exploited weaknesses in our back line.
The toughest thing to take on Saturday was the fact that, bar an absolute miracle, Champions League football is now out of our reach, but as long as we get results against Manchester United and Stoke, we will still be in the Europa League next season on merit, rather than getting the least yellow cards.
Okay, so Saturday's defeat has made the end-of-season run in a little nervier than we would have liked, but the loss was our first in ten and the first home defeat in almost nine months.
We can do nothing now but put the Swansea result behind us and look forward to the final game ever at the Boleyn Ground. It will be an emotional affair but hopefully there will be a great result too, against the side that cost us an FA Cup semi final.
For more West Ham fan views or to join the conversation visit 90min.com
The views in this article are those of the author and not necessarily those of West Ham United
It is fair to say that no Hammers fan watching at home or in the Boleyn Ground expected the outcome of Saturday's game, and by this season's high standards, it was a frustrating penultimate game at Upton Park.
We dominated possession from the off and looked far more likely to score, with Dimitri Payet putting in a handful of dangerous crosses and testing Fabianski with a powerful drive to the goalkeeper's left.
As we approached the half hour mark, Swansea got forward and had one of their first efforts of the game, and it went and ended up in the back of the net. Attacking down the left hand side, the Swans exploited Michail Antonio, who was filling in at right back, and a cross was laid off to Wayne Routledge who tapped home.
Antonio has been our most explosive, eye-catching wide man this season, so he couldn't help but charge forward on occasion, leaving a gap that the visitors cleverly ran into at every chance.
The second goal was the same, Stephen Kingsley whipping in a perfect cross from the left and Andre Ayew volleyed into the far corner with just Aaron Cresswell anywhere near him.
Slaven Bilic has since come out and declared his anger at the performance, and it is easy to see why. But you can't fail to give credit to Swansea who were well drilled, smart and clinical, taking advantage of any lapse in concentration we suffered.
Ki Sung-Yueng added a third to silence the Boleyn Ground, and despite Diafra Sakho working hard to pull one back, although the last touch came off a Swansea defender, substitute Bafetimbi Gomis sealed the win in the last few seconds.
Yes, it was a thoroughly disappointing result, but we have been spoiled this season with such wonderful performances and beautiful football, that we aren't really used to comprehensive losses.
You can look at the score line of Saturday's tie and think that Bilic's men were terrible, but we did dominate for large parts of the game and certainly created enough chances to win it, but the visitors defended well and exploited weaknesses in our back line.
The toughest thing to take on Saturday was the fact that, bar an absolute miracle, Champions League football is now out of our reach, but as long as we get results against Manchester United and Stoke, we will still be in the Europa League next season on merit, rather than getting the least yellow cards.
Okay, so Saturday's defeat has made the end-of-season run in a little nervier than we would have liked, but the loss was our first in ten and the first home defeat in almost nine months.
We can do nothing now but put the Swansea result behind us and look forward to the final game ever at the Boleyn Ground. It will be an emotional affair but hopefully there will be a great result too, against the side that cost us an FA Cup semi final.
For more West Ham fan views or to join the conversation visit 90min.com
The views in this article are those of the author and not necessarily those of West Ham United