Kurt Zouma felt West Ham United paid the penalty for their individual errors in Sunday’s 4-1 Premier League defeat at Aston Villa.
The Irons looked positioned to set up a grandstand finish when Jarrod Bowen’s deflected effort on 56 minutes halved a two-goal advantage given to the hosts by Douglas Luiz’s double.
But, after giving the ball away in the lead up to both Luiz goals, they were punished in possession again by a third for the hosts on the break through Ollie Watkins, before Leon Bailey completed a comprehensive victory for his side late on.
Centre-back Zouma was naturally disappointed with the goals conceded at Villa Park and admitted his side could not expect to take a result home with the errors they committed.
“It wasn’t a good game from us today,” the skipper said. “We made a few individual mistakes and you know you get punished for that at this level.
“I think Aston Villa were clinical today, they managed to score on our mistakes and I don’t think we played as we wanted to, unfortunately.
“That happens and we need to bounce back very quickly.”
Especially disappointing for Zouma and his teammates was the fact they let the contest slip away from them again after working so hard to create a route back into it.
At 2-0 down to a team which had won ten home Premier League games in a row and was brimming with confidence, most would have expected the game to be over, but Bowen's goal sparked a strong revival from the men from east London.
However, a counter-attack caught the visitors out and Watkins capitalised with a rasping finish to make it 3-1, and France defender Zouma said the Irons must learn from the experience and manage play better as they approach a hectic winter period.
“Whenever you concede a goal, especially as a defender, it is never easy,” he continued. “We managed to get the goal for 2-1 and get back in the game.
“We pushed and had a few set pieces and a few chances here and there, but that third goal maybe killed us, especially with how it happened, but that’s football.
“As I said, they managed to be clinical and they did a good job today.”
On the positive side, Bowen notched for the sixth time this season – and in a record fifth straight Premier League away game – and Zouma says the Hammers must keep on creating opportunities for the in-form forward.
“We know Jarrod has been important for us in the last years and he’s going to be important for us [going forward] with how good he is,” he observed.
“Every time he is on the ball he can be very dangerous and hopefully we can defend better [in the next games] and give him more chances to score.”
