Saturday, 30th August, 2014
West Ham manager Sam Allardyce has admitted that Southampton taught his team a lesson today, after the Saints visited Upton Park and came away with a comfortable 3-1 victory.
Allardyce's men took the lead when Mark Noble saw a shot from 30 yards out take a deflection and fly in on the 27-minute mark, but Southampton ensured they would not head in at the break behind after Morgan Schneiderlin turned in a Dusan Tadic free-kick just before half time.
The Saints then took the lead through Schneiderlin again (68th minute) before wrapping up victory when Graziano Pelle scored his first Premier League goal with just seven minutes remaining.
And Allardyce has no complaints about his side slipping to defeat.
"We weren't good enough. Southampton taught us a lesson, we weren't sharp enough and didn't retain the ball as well as they did, close down as well as they did and gifted them two goals", the West Ham manager told the BBC.
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"As much as they were in control and on top of the game we've lost two very stupid goals from set-pieces."
West Ham did have some good news this afternoon, parading Barcelona midfielder Alex Song as a new loan signing.
The Hammers will hope to include Song when they lock horns with Hull City after the international break.
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