Mateus Fernandes felt deflated after a 3-1 loss for West Ham against Newcastle United.
The hammer blow of the 1-0 defeat against Arsenal last weekend meant that the Irons were two points behind 17th placed Tottenham with two games to go on the calendar. Their last away day was at St. James’ Park, and the performance was simply not good enough to get the result required.
‘It is very hard to think about the future’
Nick Woltemade and William Osula scored inside the opening 20 minutes of the match, and the Danish striker scored his second goal of the game in the 65th minute. A Valentin Castellanos effort was no more than a consolation strike, and West Ham have to hope Spurs misstep against Chelsea.
Fernandes lays out players’ responsibility
“The first 20 minutes was so painful for us. We have been training all week to do one thing and we arrive here and didn’t do it. This week we just need to believe and do our things. It is our [the players’] responsibility and we need to do much better.
“It needs to be us [the players’ responsibility] always. Since the first day it is the players who decide the games. Everyone needs to take responsibility for this moment and be a man.
Hammers need Tottenham to slip up
“This is football. We need to be positive because we have one more game. It is one game that can change everything. We could have put pressure on Tottenham, but now it is difficult.
“Of course [I understand fan frustration at full-time]. We didn’t play with full fight and spirit like against Arsenal. We missed everything – fight, energy, second balls we were every time late.
“It is very hard to think about the future. One game to try to win. It is difficult. Everything can happen. Hopefully they [Spurs] lose against Chelsea and in the last match we go with everything. We have to believe.”