Parker admits West Ham’s first-half performance against Cardiff was a ‘big surprise’

Scott Parker praised West Ham’s character after his first game in charge ended in a dramatic 3-3 draw with Cardiff City.

Parker admitted the first-half display was a major concern as the Hammers fell 3-0 behind but praised his players’ belief to come back.

“The first 45 minutes were obviously very tough,” Parker said.

“I met the boys for the first time this morning at the airport, so I haven’t had much input, but I wanted to be on the sideline, and I decided not to just sit in the stand and oversee it.

“In the first half, we were clearly really poor. I thought we were poor in both phases of the game – out of possession we were quite passive at certain moments, and with the ball there was certainly a lot to work on.

“I’ve been in football for 20-odd years, and I’ve had some surprises, but today was a big surprise,” he said.

“Maybe not so much a surprise, but a big learning.”

West Ham produced a completely different performance after the break and Parker was delighted with their response.

“The second half was the polar opposite to the first, really, and to come back into the game like we did was brilliant,” he said.

“It was a forceful team, an aggressive team, a front-footed team, which was obviously a big improvement.”

Parker was particularly impressed by the mentality shown by his players after recent difficult results.

“What I will say is that at half-time, you can imagine with the players and the team having come off two bad defeats, and gone 3-0 down after coming here to Cardiff, it shows some incredible character to come back like we did,” he said.

“I’ve just said that to the guys there.”