Gianfranco Zola admitted West Ham failed to make their numerical advantage count against Arsenal.
West Ham fall to defeat against 10-man Gunners
Gianfranco Zola admitted West Ham failed to make their numerical advantage count after going down 2-0 to 10-man Arsenal.
The Gunners had to play the entire second half with a depleted side after Thomas Vermaelen was dismissed for bringing down Guillermo Franco in the box.
Alessandro Diamanti saw his penalty saved by Manuel Almunia as the visitors missed the chance to draw level following Denilson's early opener for the hosts.
Cesc Fabregas then converted from the spot seven minutes from time after Matthew Upson was penalised for handball, with Zola less-than impressed by the way his troops approached the second period.
"I am disappointed, especially after the first half when I thought that we were playing the best game of the season," he said.
Simple
"The key was to keep the discipline because you have the extra man and I told them to keep it simple, to move the ball around until we have two versus one.
"We did it for the first five minutes of the second half, but then lost it. We wanted to sort the game out as individuals. You can't think like that.
"With Arsenal, you can expect it will be difficult, even if they are one man down.
"Scoring the penalty would have been a big help because Arsenal would have played different football.
"But they just sat back and played the counter-attack. We just did not use the extra man."
Massive
Wolves, a point ahead of the Hammers, come to Upton Park on Tuesday night, before they host Stoke.
Zola said: "Our next two games will tell us a lot, especially the next one when we are playing against a team who are more or less in the same position as us. It will be massive.
"The players did not look like they had lost confidence, they were playing against one of the best teams in Europe and played some good football.
"We will go into the Wolves game in good shape."
