Oxford United 4-0 West Ham: Squad players blew their chance to prove themselves, says Manuel Pellegrini after shock Carabao Cup exit
West Ham boss Manuel Pellegrini says his squad players wasted their chance to prove why they should be playing more regular football, after they suffered a Carabao Cup exit at the hands of Oxford United on Wednesday.
The Hammers were hammered 4-0 by the League One side, who outplayed their Premier League opponents in every department on a night of humiliation for the London club.
Both sides went into the clash on a high, with West Ham beating Manchester United 2-0 and Oxford breaking records with a 6-0 win at Lincoln City at the weekend.
But Pellegrini made nine changes from that victorious team against the Red Devils, and the much-changed line up could barely string two passes together as Oxford progressed into the fourth round for the first time in 22 years.
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The Hammers boss took most of the responsibility following the defeat, but sent a message to his under-performing stars that they, too, are to blame for underestimating their opponents.
“Nobody expected us to lose this game 4-0,” he told talkSPORT.
“It’s very easy to say we played badly, but they played very well from the first minute of the game.
“So the fact we lost this game is firstly on the merit of Oxford, and second it’s because I think we didn’t believe that they are a difficult team [to play], and the motivation of a League One or League Two to beat a team of the Premier League is high.
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“We made too many mistakes. The whole team didn't play well. Not only did we concede four goals, but we didn't create too many chances. We missed too many passes from the beginning.
“The responsibility is first on me because I picked the players and second of course on the team that didn't compete.
"We talked enough with all of them to understand that the competition was different, the team was different and to play now against Oxford, who were in a good moment after winning 6-0 in their last game.
"The players must understand, but I repeat we couldn't do it because in front was a team that played very well. I don't want to take anything away from Oxford because they played very well."
Only Issa Diop and Pablo Fornals retained their starting places from the win over Manchester United, but Pellegrini introduced Felipe Anderson and Sebastien Haller off the bench early in the second half.
And he defended his team selection at the Kassam Stadium, following criticism from fans that he should have picked a stronger side.
He added: “In England, if you want to play in all the competitions you have to use your whole squad, you cannot just continue to play with the same players that pay on Saturday.
“We must demand performances from them and they have the option to demonstrate why they should be playing, but tonight they didn’t do that, the performance was not good.”
Listen back to talkSPORT's post-match interview with Manuel Pellegrini above