Maximilian Kilman offered no excuses for West Ham United’s second half collapse at Tottenham Hotspur on Saturday, saying the team know the performance was not up to the levels expected of them.
The Irons had their supporters dreaming of a second successive away league win at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium when Mohammed Kudus gave them an 18th-minute lead, only for three Tottenham goals in eight second half minutes to take the contest away from them.
After Dejan Kulusevski levelled nine minutes before half-time, a Yves Bissouma strike, Jean-Ciair Todibo’s own-goal and Heung-min Son’s finish – all between the 52nd and 60th minutes – ensured Tottenham would ultimately canter to a 4-1 victory.
That was an outcome which left Kilman deflated at full-time, as he called for an instant improvement with Manchester United due to visit London Stadium on Sunday 27 October.
“It wasn’t good enough,” an honest Kilman admitted. “There was a spell in the second half when we let the game slip.
“It was a bad spell for us. We lost concentration as a team at important moments and let them get ahead of us. Obviously it’s not good enough for the level we are and the quality we have. We need to be doing much better.
“We need to be much better than that and make sure we’re ready for the next one.”
Kilman shared the disappointment of the 3,000-strong travelling Claret and Blue Army and promised them that the hard work will continue on the training pitches as the Hammers search for a consistent level.
"We’ve got ourselves to blame," he added. "The fans come to support us every week and we need to show them better than that.
"For sure we need to get our heads down and put in a good performance next week.
"We need to compete with the best teams in the league and we have the quality to do that. We need to keep going and hopefully things will change."