James Ward-Prowse conceded that West Ham United were made to pay for mistakes made in Saturday’s 3-2 defeat at Brentford.
The Irons had fought back from Neal Maupay’s early finish at the Gtech Community Stadium to take the half-time lead against the Bees, thanks to Mohammed Kudus’ brilliantly volleyed strike and Jarrod Bowen’s close-range finish.
However, disappointing defending in the second half undid West Ham’s hard work, with Konstantinos Mavropanos only able to turn a Bryan Mbuemo cross into his own net to level the score before Nathan Collins secured the win for the hosts at the back post with his header.
Ward-Prowse, who captained the Hammers in Kurt Zouma’s absence on Saturday, acknowledged that the side had failed to hit their usual high standards.
“It’s a hard one to take,” the midfielder told West Ham TV. “It was a disappointing game all round. I think we started the game quite slowly and we conceded quite a sloppy goal. We got back into it with two really well taken goals and, when you’re in that position, it’s about seeing the game out.
“We knew they would come again in the second half and it wasn’t good enough from us, to give the game away like we did, and give away three really soft goals.”
The No7 admitted that the loss in west London was largely the visitors’ own doing, with defensive lapses allowing Brentford to retake the lead in the fixture.
With years of Premier League experience, Ward-Prowse knows that any errors will be pounced upon, and the Hammers allowed Brentford to find their way back into Saturday’s match.
“There’s a few mistakes we made throughout the game and that’s really disappointing, because we caused the defeat ourselves. We’ve not suffered from their brilliance; we’ve made the mistakes and been punished.
“In the Premier League, you can’t afford to give any team three goals and then expect ourselves to score four. At 2-1 up, it was a pivotal moment for us, and we should have seen the game out.
“We had some positives like that spell in the first half, but you can’t afford to do it for only small periods in a game. You need to do it throughout when you’re playing against any team, and if you’re not on your mettle then you’re going to get punished. That was our doing today, not theirs.”
Positives could be found in West Ham’s attacking intent, with Kudus following up his sensational strike against Arsenal on Wednesday with another fantastic finish at Brentford.
With Bowen also scoring and, in the process, becoming the first West Ham player to net in six consecutive away games, Ward-Prowse was full of praise for both.
“Mo and Jarrod are both showing their qualities,” he continued. “They scored two really-well taken goals, especially Mo’s, and they’ve got fantastic quality.
“I’m pleased for them but I know I speak for them when I say they’d rather the three points. It’s something for us to work on and improve on.”
With two home games to come in the next week, against Olympiacos in the UEFA Europa League and Nottingham Forest in the Premier League, Ward-Prowse is eager for the Hammers to grab the chance to put things right and get back to winning ways before the international break.
“I think I’ve said before that the beauty of football is that there’s always an opportunity to play another game and turns things around right around the corner,” he added.
“Olympiacos at home is a fantastic fixture to be a part of and hopefully we can take advantage of it.”
