Hammers must not repeat previous mistakes

West Ham skipper Mark Noble says his side must use ‘common sense’ in order to overcome the challenge Liverpool will present to them this weekend.

The Hammers are in a spot of bother in the league at the moment, and have won just two of their opening ten Premier League games – sitting one point off the relegation zone.

Manager Slaven Bilic finds his job under threat, and a number of Hammers stars find their position in the team under threat too. Liverpool will come as no easy task, but West Ham have every chance of being able to pick their weak defence apart, and Noble says they must not make the same mistakes they made against Palace last week.

“You can’t make mistakes like we made at Crystal Palace in the Premier League and expect to win matches, so we really need to learn how to hold onto a lead because we’re really shooting ourselves in the foot,” he told the club’s official website.

“People talk about ‘managing the game’ and a lot of it is common sense. We need to be able to see the time out by slowing the play down and, in a way, get the opposition and their fans feeling anxious. I don’t think we have done that well enough this season.”

“With where we are in the table, what happened at Crystal Palace last weekend and the fact we go into the final international break of the year after it, there is a massive motivation to win Saturday’s game,” the 30-year-old added.

“Liverpool at home is a big game – it always is. We’re at home, we’ll have the crowd behind us and we’ve got to roll our sleeves up, look forward to the game and do the basics right.”
[Quotes via Sky Sports]