Manuel Pellegrini’s West Ham United slipped to a fourth consecutive Premier League defeat, to begin the Chilean veteran’s time in charge on Saturday afternoon, to Nuno Espirito Santo’s Wolverhampton Wanderers at London Stadium.
Adama Traore, once linked with a move to East London, struck the killer blow for the visitors on their first-ever trip to Stratford, agonisingly for the hosts, in the third minute of added-time at the end of the 90 minutes.
Ruben Neves dispossessed Carlos Sanchez in midfield on his first home start and fed the ball to substitute Leo Bonatini, he, in turn, laid it on a plate for fellow sub Traore to run through and drill the ball low under Lukasz Fabianski, into the back of the net.
After the game, Pellegrini, whose side were second best for much of the afternoon on home soil, spoke to the press in his post-match press conference, which West Ham Matters were fortunate enough to be present at, here’s every word the under-pressure gaffer had to say:
On Whether He Was Disappointed By The Nature Of The Loss:
“Yes, very disappointed because it was in the added-time, it was a free-kick that was for ourselves.
“I think that the best choice in that moment was to make a long ball to the other box.
“But the players decided another action, so we lost that ball and finally, we lost the game.”
On His Team’s Overall Performance:
“I think that we didn’t play, especially in the first 45 minutes, in the way we need to play if we want to win.”
On What Needs To Be Fixed Going Forward:
“There are a lot of things that I don’t want to analyse just one-by-one, I think that we need to defend better and we need to score more goals.”
On His Team’s Calamitous Start To The Campaign:
“We knew before we started that we had a tough start, that we have seven difficult games.
“Maybe, we didn’t think that we would lose these six points here at home, but all of the games in the Premier League are difficult.
“So, we must work and play against Everton, our next rival, improving what we are doing and trying to reduce the amount of mistakes, and I think that everyone inside the club is calm.”
On Whether Or Not His Squad Is Strong Enough:
“Yes, I think that we have a strong squad, and that we are going to have a better performance in the future.
“Of course, when you don’t start with just one point in four games, it’s difficult to continue talking about the same trust, but I think that we have a good squad.”
On The Decision Unused Substitute Declan Rice Faces About His International Allegiance:
“I think that Declan Rice and all the team, the players, are thinking about first of West Ham and then, we decide personal things.”
Next up for Pellegrini and West Ham will be a week off for the first International break of the term, after that, they travel to Goodison Park to clash with Everton on Sunday 16 September.
