Hawa Cissoko says that West Ham United’s 5-0 defeat to Liverpool on Sunday afternoon shows that the team have lots to work on ahead of the opening match of the season.
The Irons were second best against the Reds at the University Stadium and despite their performance not deserving of losing the match by a five goal scoreline, Cissoko says that the team can be embarrassed about their performance.
However, she confirms that it now gives the team lots to work on as they prepare for their opening Barclays Women’s Super League match, which is against Chelsea on Sunday 11 September.
"I’m not going to say that I’m disappointed – I’m a little bit ashamed and embarrassed about this result,” Cissoko told whufc.com at the full-time whistle.
“But I also believe that it’s the kind of game that we need. In the pre-season, we’re scoring lots of goals and winning games and now we’ve been brought back down to earth with this defeat.
“Now we have seen our weakness, we have lots to work on ahead of the first game of the season against Chelsea.”
After a very competitive first half where American forward Katie Stengel has given Matt Beard’s side the lead, the Hammers never really got going in the second 45 minutes. Shanice van de Sanden headed in their second and then the floodgates opened, with Kiernan scoring her hattrick – one of which came from the penalty spot.
For Cissoko, it was small details that were her sides undoing.
“I don’t think it’s a bad thing – yes it’s embarrassing and yes it’s a shame, but it’s a result that shows us that we need to work a lot harder.
“All the players and coaching staff will watch the game back and give their feedback. I didn’t think we were that bad, we certainly didn’t deserve to win the game but I also didn’t think we were worthy of losing 5-0.
“All the goals, except the penalty have come from little details that we know that we need to be better at, so there’s changes that we can make going into the new season to make sure that we’re ready.”
The game at the University Stadium concluded a three-day weekend on campus for the Hammers, with the team taking time away from their Chadwell Heath base to train in a new environment and make the most of the world class facilities that the University has to offer.
“It’s been really nice for us to come up to the Loughborough University campus – it’s good to have a change of environment and be together as a team.
“We’ve had a lot of new players come into the team, so you need these kind of trips where you’re all together for a couple of days to get to know one another properly. We’ve been able to train hard, and then also take part in some other activities that have brought us all closer together.
“Despite the defeat, I would say that everyone on the pitch had great energy between one another, we were all on the same page – it’s just the small details that were missing for us.”
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