Joe Lolley was left frustrated by the "sloppy" nature of West Ham United's goals as they thrashed Huddersfield Town 4-1 at the John Smith's Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

Mark Noble's calm first half opener was cancelled out by the Terriers forward netting his first top-flight goal, however, Marko Arnautović scored 11 seconds into the second half which set the tone for the rest of the game.

A Manuel Lanzini double followed the Austrian's precise strike to secure a big win on the road for David Moyes, who now has 200 wins as a Premier League manager.

Defending not up to standard

Lolley explained his frustrations because of Huddersfield's inability to build on the pressure applied once he scored the equaliser just before the break, by conceding so early in the second period:

“It’s frustrating and we’ve shot ourselves in the foot. The goals were sloppy and silly to give away.

“The mood in the dressing room was good at half-time, we felt we could push on. That goal was a bit of a sucker-punch, but it shouldn’t have stopped us from continuing where we left off in the first half and from pushing on, but it worked out well for them as they counter-attack well. We didn’t defend well enough as a team.”

David Moyes has instilled a strong defensive mindset into his players since taking charge at West Ham, and Lolley admitted how tough it was to break down the visitors all match long:

“It was tough, and the goal we conceded early in the second half allowed them to stay in that shape and be happy with what they had.

"It was very hard, especially in and around the box as they had a lot of numbers behind the ball; it’s something we have to learn and improve upon for the next game.

“It wasn’t a real surprise as they do have a lot of athletic players who get around the pitch very well and we didn’t cope with it well enough.”

First Premier League goal in the bag

The winger's excellent first half curling finish was his first in the Premier League, but he insisted the manner in which he was at fault for the Hammers' opener left him frustrated and focus is now on the trip to Stoke City next:

“I was frustrated to give away the first goal. Cutting in off the right is natural for me, and I’ve just curled it around the defender and luckily its gone in to give us a way back into the game.”

“It’s the Premier League, you’ve got to move on. We’ll look back on what we need to work on, on the things we didn’t do well enough. As soon as we’ve done that we need to focus on the next game at Stoke City.”

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Alex Turk
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