West Ham’s season summed up by amusing viral video

Højbjerg and Ward-Prowse both had smashing shots at Adrian, but were denied as the Spanish keeper seemed for an instant to find his form.

But Austin did not look like a player who has no ligaments in his knee – as Sullivan once questioned – when he tucked in Ryan Bertrand’s cutback five minutes before half-time for a fifth goal in his last four games.

Although West Ham had a shot cleared off the line by Virgil van Dijk, they always looked vulnerable and duly conceded a 16th goal from six league games when substitute Ward-Prowse pounced.

Winston Reid admitted Southampton worked harder than West Ham during the painful 3-0 defeat at the London Stadium. “We could have kept playing until tonight and we wouldn’t have scored”.

Thousands of home supporters left the London Stadium in the final 10 minutes, with swathes of empty seats visible at the final whistle. Southampton saw most of the ball, although they struggled to carve out any clear-cut chances in the opening stanza.

West Ham conceded four goals against Watford and West Brom in its previous two outings, and Bilic told BBC Sport: “They [Southampton] deserved it”.

West Ham United manager Slaven Bilic at London Stadium, England, September 25.

“But we are not going to make excuses and know that Slaven (Bilic) and his team will be working even harder on the training ground this week to get things right”.

Charlie Austin has taken this season by storm and it could help Southampton maintain the success of recent years. I was at the game yesterday and I don’t think we’ve got long enough to discuss what’s wrong at the club.

The Guardian newspaper reported that “individual errors, tactical indiscipline and the failure to defend as a collective unit have hurt West Ham this season”. The home match against Middlesbrough next Saturday, the last game before the worldwide break, takes on even greater significance in terms of mood and trajectory.

“It is my responsibility”, he said. I’ve been through it many times before – in worse positions than this and with weaker squads – and we’ve dug ourselves out of it.

“The start they’ve had is completely different this year but I do think there comes a time where players have to stand up and be counted”. Not just for him but for below-par players such as Dimitri Payet, Manuel Lanzini, Cheikhou Kouyate and, yes, Noble.