We allowed Villa to get back in the game

Head Coach Nuno Espírito Santo says his West Ham United team need to learn how to close out Premier League matches after twice conceding the lead in Sunday’s 3-2 home defeat by Aston Villa.

For the third time in the last five top-flight matches, West Ham saw a winning position evaporate and valuable points slip from our grasp, leaving us inside the bottom three as Christmas approaches.

The Irons went in front inside 30 seconds through Mateus Fernandes’ record-breaking goal, then retook the lead on 24 minutes through Jarrod Bowen after Dinos Mavropanos’ own-goal had pegged the Hammers back.

With Villa struggling to create meaningful changes, the Hammers could have taken full control but could not score a third.

Morgan Rogers punished Nuno’s side in devastating fashion, converting Youri Tielemans’ cross five minutes into the second half to level at 2-2.

Then, after West Ham had failed to take a number of chances to retake the lead a third time, the England international lashed a 25-yard strike past Alphonse Areola to condemn the Londoners to a disappointing home defeat.

Speaking candidly to West Ham TV, the Head Coach says improvements will need to be made if his team are to climb the table.

It’s frustrating, the outcome of the game.

It was a game that I think we had a lot of positives, but at the same time a lot of things that we should do better.

There’s a major pivotal moment of the game, it’s the beginning of the second half, we are in front, we are leading, and we allowed Villa to get back in the game.

It has been a factor in recent matches, we are leading and the leads are getting away from us.

This reflects in less points, which reflects in more anxiety.

We need much improvement in this area.

I think it was a good moment [when we took the lead in the first minute].

We pressed, we recovered [the ball], we scored, it was a perfect start of the game, if you wish.

Then the first half was good by both teams, and I keep insisting the message was clear: ‘We know that a team like Villa is going to react, is going to try new things, [so we] should manage the game better, so instead of conceding we should go for the third and try to close the game down’.

It didn’t happen, but look, I have nothing to say about the effort, the actions of the boys, the really hard work that they put in.

It’s up to us now to get together and bounce back for the next one.

We need everybody.

We need the best of each one of us, so we can get out of this position.

There are a lot of games to be played, but a lot of improvement to be made also.