West Ham manager Manuel Pellegrini believed his side need to recover the trust between themselves, as Bournemouth scored twice in six second-half minutes to win 2-1 at London Stadium.
Despite mistakes in the second half, the hosts started very brightly and led at the break via a Marko Arnautovic penalty. Pellegrini was pleased by this but says his squad need to continue working hard.
“I feel we need to work very hard to recover the trust as a team, in the players and as a club,†said Pellegrini.
“I was happy with the first 45 minutes, we started very well.
“We didn’t have many problems with defending, we dominate most of the game, scored and had other chances but the team was without trust to go score another goal.
“This was our best moment, because when you are winning 1-0 the other team has to give you space but we make mistakes for both goals.â€
Arnautovic could’ve had a hat-trick before half-time as West Ham were opening the visitors up towards the end of the half. The manager said they lost confidence when the equaliser went in.
“Football a lot of time, you’ll miss chances but you need to keep playing,†he said.
“At half-time we were winning 1-0, we waited till they make a mistake but we needed to keep pressing, but we sat too much in our half and made mistakes in defence.â€
Despite the loss, Pellegrini insists it will take time and that the players should forget about last season’s struggles and work hard.
“We need time when you have so many new players, new manager, new style of play but most of all we need to forget about last season,†he explained.
“We need to recover the trust as a club and work on this in the next week.
“We need to work in 90 minutes what we did in 45 today.â€
Bournemouth manager Eddie Howe was delighted with his team’s response after a tough first half for his side.
“They made it tough for us first half, creating chances but it was an excellent win at 1-0 down, there was a lot of work to do, so credit to the players,†he said.
