Not panicking: West Ham goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski has calledcfor calm after two defeats to open the new season
(Picture: REUTERS)West Ham goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski has called for calm after the Hammers lost to Nottingham Forest and slumped to their second Premier League defeat on the spin.
Promoted Forest claimed a 1-0 victory yesterday, with Taiwo Awoniyi scoring just before half-time. David Moyes’ side had plenty of chances to leave the City Ground with something, though, as Declan Rice missed a penalty and Said Benrahma had a goal ruled out by VAR.
West Ham also hit the crossbar twice and defender Kurt Zouma saw his header cleared off the line in the final 10 minutes.
Nonetheless, the defeat means West Ham have kicked off with back-to-back defeats — the first was at home to defending champions Manchester City — and they are 19th in the table. Asked by Standard Sport if there was any panic, Fabianski said: “No, no, never, never.
“Obviously you don’t want to start with defeats, but then I think it creates this environment of us really making sure that in the next game we are going to turn it around, we are going to get a result. Like I said, the Premier League is not really an easy league! You really have to fight hard for every point.
“But I think sometimes games like this they are, I wouldn’t say a wake-up call, but a reminder that you need to push a little bit more to get the results.”
West Ham manager David Moyes admitted Forest were the better side during the opening 20 minutes. Awoniyi proved to be a handful for the Hammers defence, who were kept busy by the home side’s direct approach.
West Ham, however, grew into the game and had a goal chalked off before the break. Benrahma slotted home a Rice through-ball, but VAR intervened as Michail Antonio had barged into Orel Mangala in the build-up.
Moments later, Forest went up the other end and Awoniyi bundled the ball home after Jesse Lingard’s scuffed effort was blocked.
“We were expecting a very loud crowd and that’s what happened. We wanted to just manage it,” said Fabianski. “We were disappointed that we conceded in the way we did at the end of the first half. At the last minute of halves, you always have to take care of the ball, make sure that you do not concede any chances.
“We didn’t manage to do it, so we got punished for being sloppy in defence and allowing them to take the chance.”
West Ham still had opportunities to claim a point, with Benrahma and Pablo Fornals hitting the crossbar and Rice missing a penalty after Scott McKenna had used his arm to stop Tomas Soucek scoring.
“In the first half Forest were maybe a better team than us, but in the second half we had really good chances,” said Soucek. “It feels in a way strange to not get anything from the game.”
