I don’t think we were quite at it – West Ham boss David Moyes after Wolves loss
Raul Jimenez scored the only goal of the game for the home side.
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Your support makes all the difference.West Ham boss David Moyes said his team had been “not quite on it” after their winning run came to a end with a 1-0 loss at Wolves
Having entered the contest at Molineux looking for a fifth successive Premier League victory, the Hammers were undone as Raul Jimenez struck what proved to be the only goal in the 58th minute.
Moyes said: “I think Wolves are a good team. I don’t think we were quite at it.
“For the opening 20 minutes we probably had opportunities to maybe get in front, they then got control of the second half of the first half, and actually when the goal came I didn’t think we were that far away from them.
“The game was very close, but that is what they are like in the Premier League. They were just not quite there today to be honest, not quite on it.”
The Scot, whose side were third in the table going into the game, added: “I think there was a bit missing, a couple of players not really at the level they have shown, a couple coming back from illness, the first time we’ve been without Angelo (Ogbonna, who was missing after sustaining an anterior cruciate ligament injury in the 3-2 win over Liverpool on November 7).
“So there’s a few things we could look at, but no excuses. I do think the games in the Premier League, there is very little between the teams. Today was very tight. But we didn’t play as well as we have done.
“But if you expect us to be sort of on it every game, then we’ll be having these questions more, quite a bit, because we’re not going to be there, we’re not at that level yet to play at the highest standards every single game this season.”
After an opening in which Jarrod Bowen headed just wide for the visitors, Wolves had a number of first-half chances, including Jimenez sending a dinked effort off-target when through one-on-one with Lukasz Fabianski, before a header by West Ham’s Kurt Zouma just prior to the interval was disallowed for a foul.
Having twice been denied by good Fabianski saves following the break, Daniel Podence then teed up Jimenez for the Mexican’s third goal of the season.
West Ham’s bid to hit back saw Michail Antonio and Bowen miss the target, while Max Kilman blazed a late effort into the stand at the other end.
It was a fifth win in seven games for Wolves, who moved up to sixth in the table.
Boss Bruno Lage said: “(I am delighted) not just with the result, the result and the performance.
“I’m happy with the players because we spent the last weeks (talking) about consistency, about the last two games, (a 2-1 win against Everton and 2-0 loss at Crystal Palace), and we come again with a good performance.
“It was the challenge for today to be back, to play well, the way we play, because when you play against a team like West Ham you need to do a good performance to win. We came with big confidence to make a good performance.”