West Ham had a great chance to keep the top four race alive this afternoon but it was thrown away in spectacular fashion.
A 4-1 defeat against a mid table Swansea side is a really poor result, make no mistake about it. The Welsh side looked up for it from start to finish whereas the Hammers looked like they had no idea what hit them.
West Ham started brightly and looked in the mood but a degree of complacency made Bilic’s side pay big time. Three crosses resulted in well-taken goals for the Swans and the fourth added insult to injury as West Ham threw men forward.
The big problem that has existed in a lot of recent games is Michail Antonio playing right-back. Swansea got a lot of joy down his side as the midfielder struggled to cover in a defensive sense. When he went forward, he was spectacular. His pace, power and skill caused Swansea problems but he didn’t get enough opportunities due to his restricted starting position.
When Antonio was moved further up the pitch in the second half he caused a lot more problems and really looked determined to get the Hammers back into the game. Hopefully Bilic noticed this and he’ll play either James Tomkins or Sam Byram at right-back in the next fixture.
Antonio looked frustrated at right-back
Another positive was Diafra Sakho’s impact when he came on. He worked hard and was influential in getting the sole goal that West Ham managed to score.
Although there were brief glimpses of quality, the Hammers will really need to up their game for the visit of Manchester United in the final Boleyn Ground fixture. The race for the top four could well be over but there’s still a chance to finish this great season with some strong performances.
