Slaven Bilic: London Stadium Atmosphere 'Hurt' West Ham United In Southampton Defeat

West Ham United manager Slaven Bilic admitted he and his players were "hurt" by the reaction of the crowd after the 3-0 defeat to Southampton at London Stadium on Sunday.

Bilic's side lost its fourth English Premier League game in a row, as goals from Charlie Austin , in the first half, and Dusan Tadic and James Ward-Prowse in the second kept it rooted in the relegation zone.

Significant portions of the London Stadium crowd began to pour out of the stadium, the centerpiece of the London 2012 Olympic Games, with 10 minutes still remaining. And Bilic admitted the fizzling atmosphere had affected him.

"It's not a good sight, and it's very frustrating," Bilic said when asked if the empty spaces in the crowd had hurt his team. "You can't compare it with the game against Bournemouth [a 1-0 victory on August 21 at London Stadium]. All the people were celebrating. It hurts to be fair. As a manager, and I know for the team as well."

After a scrappy opening to the game, Austin snuck in to finish off a fine cut-back from Ryan Bertrand, before Austin and Tadic combined slickly to kill the game off.

West Ham midfielder Mark Noble admitted after the game that Southampton "could have scored six," with goalkeeper Adrian making several fine saves before substitute Ward-Prowse finished the game off, deep into injury time.

"Everything that was good last year in the majority of the season is bad this season. And everything that was average last season is way below par this season," Bilic said, vowing to take responsibility for West Ham's slide toward the bottom of the table.

Previous games at the London Stadium this season have been marked by crowd trouble between warring West Ham supporters. This one stayed free from trouble, though the atmosphere grew gradually more rancorous as it became clear West Ham was heading to another defeat, its fifth from six Premier League games this season.