Manager David Moyes admitted he could do nothing to stop criticism from West Ham fans as he faced negativity during an important victory at Fulham.
Harrison Reed’s own goal gave the Hammers a 1-0 win at Craven Cottage, their first league victory on the road since August. It was also enough to take Moyes’ men up to 13th in the table and three points clear of the bottom three.
While the win, coming on the back of a 5-1 thrashing at the hands of Newcastle in midweek, gives West Ham some breathing space, their first shot on target did not come until the 55th minute. By that point Reed had unfortunately turned a Jarrod Bowen cross past Bernd Leno as Fulham ended the game with 77 per cent possession, having had 16 shots on the visitors’ goal.
While the Hammers supporters saw just a second away win of the campaign, there was still some ill-feeling towards Moyes with chants of “You don’t know what you’re doing” aimed in his direction as he substituted Danny Ings on the hour and there was also a ‘Moyes out’ banner on display.
Asked what he thought of the criticism, Moyes replied: “I can’t really answer that, can I? They can do that if they choose to do so…”
When it was put to him the negativity could put pressure on his players, he added: “It can do, yes. But I have to say the players’ response and the way they have gone about it after the midweek result and pulled together to get a result which they did do, magnificently led by Declan (Rice) and the players. I have to say it was a really good strong performance.
“It is not just the second away win of the season but a second win in a week. Two clean sheets in a week. Two 1-0 victories in a week. In our position I knew we had to win some away games and we dogged it out today and found a way of getting a result, nicked a bit of a goal and getting a chance. Fulham played well at times but we defended really well.
"We made it difficult for them.”
Fulham have now lost four league games in a row as their hopes of European qualification continue to dwindle.
Head coach Marco Silva watched on from the stands as he serves a two-match ban following his sending off against Manchester United in the FA Cup. The fact his talisman Aleksandar Mitrovic still faces six games on the sidelines having been hit with an eight-match ban in the same encounter will also concern Silva, who felt the West Ham goal should have been ruled out.
“I think everyone could see it was handball (in the build-up),” he said. “Everyone saw it. My players, the ones that were involved in the situation, told me straight away that it was handball.
“How it is possible with VAR, the VAR didn’t check, tell the referee it was a clear handball from the player and of course the goal should be disallowed and in that moment it should be 0-0, not 1-0 to West Ham.
“It is up to us to keep working, we have not stopped working, not just because we didn’t get three points today that we have stopped. The players work hard and the last week was a good example. We are not confident and the last few results impacted that. We know the standards we have to get to and we have to do much better to win three points again.”
