The Hammers headed into the FA Cup fourth round tie as clear favourites, with AFC Wimbledon currently bottom of the third tier in England. However, the home side stunned the Premier League side as they stormed into a 3-0 lead on course to a commanding victory.
After the game Pellegrini said, via BBC Sport: “Was I angry at half-time? Yes of course – I was ashamed of them.
“It’s very easy to explain what happened – it was one team who wanted to win and another team who played without any desire or any ambition to win or continue in this cup.
“Maybe we thought we were going to win because we are a Premier League team and they are in League One, but Wimbledon played with the desire to compete in this cup. In the first 45 minutes, we didn’t fight.
“It’s very frustrating because you can be eliminated, but not in the way we were. It’s a disaster.”
Manuel Pellegrini beat him to it. pic.twitter.com/dBVYjw0Nrv
— Nooruddean (@BeardedGenius) January 26, 2019
Lucas Perez and Felipe Anderson were brought on in the second half in attempt to overturn the deficit, and Pellegrini’s substitutes had the desired effect, as both attackers scored to peg the score back to 3-2 with 20 minutes remaining.
However, Wimbledon completed the upset courtesy of a substitute of their own, as Toby Sibbick came on with just four minutes left to add the home side’s fourth goal, seeing off West Ham in the biggest shock of the fourth round.
Source : 90min