Pablo Zabaleta ‘sorry’ after West Ham are dumped out of a cup by League One opposition for third year in a row

Rough night | West Ham were hammered at Oxford United
PA
Giuseppe Muro26 September 2019

Pablo Zabaleta says the way West Ham crashed out of the Carabao Cup lwas unacceptable after they suffered a humiliating exit like rivals Tottenham.

West Ham slumped to a 4-0 defeat at Oxford United as they conceded four goals in the second half against a side currently 12th in League One.

Manager Manuel Pellegrini accused his players of complacency and stand-in captain Zabaleta apologised to supporters for their dismal display.

West Ham failed to heed the warning after Tottenham lost to Colchester on Tuesday and there is a danger last night’s result could derail their good start to the season.

The Hammers went into the game on a high after beating Manchester United 2-0 on Sunday and Zabaleta hopes the performance against Oxford was just a blip.

“If you look at the performance tonight, it was not anywhere near our standard and also in the way we lost was not good,” said the defender. “I thought it was a poor performance from everyone. We are not the first Premier League team to be knocked out of the Carabao Cup. We saw Spurs and other Premier League teams struggling to win games like that.

“We still need to learn how to play those games, especially when you come from a big win like it was against Manchester United last Sunday. This was a completely different game against a League One team who play a different kind of football where the intensity is higher. That is why you have to perform well enough to win those games.”

West Ham have now been dumped out of cup competitions by a team from the third tier for three successive seasons. The club have not won a major trophy since the 1980 FA Cup and the Carabao Cup was their best opportunity to end that long wait for silverware this season.

Pellegrini made nine changes from the weekend win over Manchester United and, just as they had at AFC Wimbledon in the FA Cup last season, West Ham surrendered against Oxford.

In Pictures | AFC Wimbledon vs West Ham | 26/01/19

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The Hammers are targeting a place in Europe after a fine start in the Premier League. A win at Bournemouth on Saturday will ease to disappointment of this shock and Pellegrini hopes the defeat at the Kassam Stadium will not stall their momentum. But he will be concerned by the way West Ham collapsed and what that says about their mentality.

Photo: Action Images via Reuters
Action Images via Reuters

Zabaleta said: “We feel sorry about the performance and sorry to the away fans who came to the game because obviously we do not want our fans to see this kind of performance. It was just a bad night.”

In Pictures | Oxford vs West Ham | 25/09/2019

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Oxford themselves made six changes and the apparent lack of motivation in the West Ham side at the Kassam Stadium is something that needs addressing.

Youngster Nathan Holland tried to make things happen on his first West Ham start but the Hammers were second best all over the pitch.

League One losses

2-0 at Wigan, Jan 27 2018, FA Cup
4-2 at AFC Wimbledon, Jan 26 2019, FA Cup
4-0 Oxford, Sep 26 2019, Carabao Cup

Pellegrini brought on Sebastien Haller, Felipe Anderson and Mark Noble as the Hammers chased the game in the second half.

But goals from Elliott Moore, Matty Taylor, Tariqe Fosu and Shandon Baptiste ensured West Ham the suffered the same fate as Tottenham in a week of shocks in the Carabao Cup.

“We just need to move on now and look at the mistakes we have made and think about Saturday,” said Zabaleta. “We return to the Premier League again and we do not have too much time to recover. It is only another 48 hours and we have another game and mentally we need to be strong for Saturday."

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