Fan blogger Joe Difford looks back at the weekend's game...
Not for the first time this season, it is difficult to immediately find a positive in the weekend’s game, as West Brom stunned Slaven Bilic’s men to take all three points.
After a comfortable 3-0 victory in the same fixture last year, we travelled hoping to dominate once more and end a run, albeit a short run, without a win.
However, after an early and unfortunate penalty was conceded when the ball looped over Arthur Masuaku and landed on his arm, the hosts grew in confidence and took every chance they got.
Our injury problems this season have been significant and widely reported, with Havard Nordtveit having to fill in at right back. Although he does have some experience there, this coupled with the absence of Winston Reid meant that again we were unable to keep the same back four.
Keeping a tight back line and forming a strong relationship in defence is key in the Premier League, but when injury prevents you from doing so, the only outcome is conceding goals, four in our case.
Credit to West Brom, they were clinical and fired up, having not picked up a win themselves since the opening day of the season.
It is crazy that we are currently 18th in the league when you consider that the division’s top goalscorer and assister play in Claret and Blue. The duo combined again at the Hawthorns, as Dimitri Payet found Michail Antonio with a cross and the winger headed home once again.
Antonio has now scored five headers this season, which is more than any other team collectively, and this partnership is becoming a very exciting one indeed.
Okay, so the result was not what the fans wanted, far from it in fact, but the good thing is that the problems we are currently facing come from injuries and a bad run of form, something every team suffers at some point during the long season.
We had over 70 per cent possession on Saturday and created enough chances to win the game, but having brought in over ten new faces, it is understandable that it will take time to gel.
Next up for Bilic’s men is a League Cup clash against Accrington Stanley on Wednesday evening, and although a number of changes are likely to be made, it is a great opportunity to gain some confidence, galvanise the fans and give game time to more new signings who will likely be integrated into the squad soon.
The opening five games haven’t exactly gone as expected, but when you have such a magnificent season as we did last time around, it is unrealistic to expect another year of the same.
These words have been used before this season, but the Premier League is a marathon, not a sprint, and perhaps a defeat like this is what we needed to push us on to a win in the cup and a victory over Southampton on Sunday.
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The views in this article are those of the author and not necessarily those of West Ham United