Speaking after the Club’s 4-1 defeat against Manchester City, defender Vladimir Coufal emphasised the need for the Hammers squad to remain united and work on restoring their confidence.

Although West Ham played quite well in spells at the Etihad on Saturday, registering 17 shots on goal, their lack of quality and ruthlessness in front of goal as well as continued defensive fragilities were ultimately their undoing.

Pep Guardiola’s side have endured a difficult few months, struggling to pick up results and performing at a level that’s far removed from the Manchester City we have all come to be in awe of. Despite having not been at their best for quite some time, City still showed their quality against West Ham at the weekend and were clinical in front of goal.

An own goal from Vladimir Coufal, a brace from Erling Haaland and a goal from Phil Foden, meant despite Niclas Fullkrug’s 71st minute strike, which proved to be nothing more than a consolation, West Ham found themselves on the wrong end of yet another heavy defeat. To be able to reel off what is now a lengthy list of defeats by three or more goals is a clear indication of just how poorly West Ham have performed this season.

Speaking to the Club’s official website after the game, Czech international Vladimir Coufal admitted the defeat was tough to take but insisted there were positives the Hammers could take from their performance and look to build on moving forward.

“We didn’t take our chances in the first half, and they’re a quality team so they scored from the opportunities they had. In some parts of the game we played some good football, and I don’t remember a game where we had so many good opportunities but struggled to score.” said Coufal.

The 32 year old went on to add: “It’s a bit tough to take at the moment, but we know we have done some good things so we have to stick together.”

Morale amongst supporters and the general mood around the Club is extremely low. There have only been a couple of wins and a handful of performances to be pleased with so far this season. At the time of writing, it remains to be seen whether it will be Julen Lopetegui in charge against Aston Villa in the FA Cup or whether Graham Potter will become the Club’s new manager and take charge of the team.

Whilst in interviews after games players are right to say that everyone around the Club needs to stick together at a time like this, there needs to be a drastic upturn in results and much more consistency in the Hammers performances. This is because otherwise hearing such things from players will feel like nothing more than hollow words and generic media trained responses to supporters that pay their hard earned money to follow West Ham up and down the country.