Manager David Moyes felt his players were not up to scratch in the business area of the pitch as West Ham laboured to a goalless draw against Southampton.
The Hammers remain unbeaten with two wins and a couple of draws in 2021-2022. They kicked off proceedings with back-to-back victories but were then held by Crystal Palace. And Saints repeated the dose and actually came closest to securing all three points.
Chelsea loanee Armando Broja struck the foot of the past for the hosts late on. And England ace Declan Rice also cleared his header off the line.
West Ham bossed the majority of the contest but Southampton keeper Alex McCarthy was not forced into a save until early in the second period.
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Moyes was pleased with the way his men passed the ball. But the Scot acknowledged their shortcomings in front of goal.
“Southampton made it difficult for us, but overall we had a lot of control of the game but we just couldn’t find the openings or the moments required to get a goal,” he told BBC Sport.
“I felt we played well with the ball, but we didn’t do that in the final third. I think we were poor, we didn’t have the connections.
“It may have had a lot to do with the players being away for the international break.”
Moyes has no issues with Antonio red
Michail Antonio had scored four top-flight goals for West Ham heading into the south-coast fixture. But he was given his matching orders five minutes into second-half stoppage time.
The Londoners was shown a second yellow card for a rash challenge on Moussa Djenepo. That was after he had gone into the referee’s notebook after a coming together with Saints defender Jack Stephens earlier in the second half.
Moyes was disappointed with his striker but felt the official had no choice.
“[Antonio] had been booked for the first one,” he added. “You just don’t make any more challenges and give the referee a decision to make.
“My feeling was from where I was it was probably a booking and he got sent off for it.”
Southampton boss Ralph Hasenhuttl felt it was a game of fine margins which his side could easily have taken.
“A few inches were missed today, I think we had the better chances to win the game,” he told the BBC. “With a little bit more luck we could have won it. We tried something a little bit different today, we tried to invite them to play a little bit more.”
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