Former West Ham Academy prospect Seb Lletget has revealed how he and his fellow youth stars were hung out to dry by Sam Allardyce in the infamous FA Cup defeat at Nottingham Forest.



Lletget in his only first team appearance for West Ham - the ill-fated FA Cup tie with Nottingham Forest. Pic: ESPN.

Lletget - who is currently wowing the crowds at LA Galaxy alongside Steven Gerrard and Robbie Keane - was one of a number of Academy players who were handed their debuts at the City Ground for the FA Cup third round clash with Forest back in January 2014, due to a chronic injury list.West Ham's young team - that included half-a-dozen debutants - were thrashed 5-0 on the day by the Championship side. And Lletget believes that Allardyce deliberately sent out an inexperienced side in order to make a point about his lack of first team options."I look back at that now and it's just like 'oh'!" Lletget told KUMB.com's James Longman."I enjoyed it because it was our only opportunity. But we played a formation that we've never played in our life and we didn't have too much experience on the field - which I realise is important now having played with Stevie [Gerrard] and Keano."It's important having those senior guys around to control things, the kind of things the fans don't see. We had none of that. We were just improvising really and I've never been in that position before. I couldn't even tell you what he said to us out there because it wasn't inspiring."Lletget was also critical of Allardyce's perceived lack of interest in the Academy and its players - something that, as a developing player, he found immensely frustrating. "I can say this now as it's been a long while and a lot has happened," he added. "But I believe there was a lot of neglect."It's not that he didn't care, but it's like he had better things on his mind. He didn't have time for us and I couldn't understand that."Being a Premier League manager is tough, it's not easy. But I feel like even if it's tough, you can still care and show that. With us, all we wanted was a handshake in the morning, for him to know our names - but he had none of that."People respected him because they were scared of him, but they all wanted to do well and make it because they didn't want to get exiled. And a lot of players did, immediately, without a second thought."It was a real shame because we had a really good group of lads and a lot of talent, but it never got to shine."San Franciscan Lletget - who was allowed to leave West Ham on a free transfer in May 2015 - returned to the US in order to join LA Galaxy after six years in England. Since then his form has resulted in widespread backing for a place in the US national squad.However he admits that he still keeps an eye out for West Ham's results - "it's the first team I check for!", he says - and believes that current manager Slaven Bilic has got the balance right. "I want to see hem do well. I have a lot of love for West Ham, I really do," he said."I still speak to a lot of the players at the club. It seems like Slaven Bilic is doing a fantastic job and you can tell right away he shows a lot of love to the youth. I think as a West Ham fan you like that, the likes of Nobes who has come up through the Academy and you want more."* To listen to James Longman's exclusive interview wih Lletget in full, download or stream the latest edition of the award-winning Knees up Mother Brown West Ham Podcast, also featuring journalist Lee Clayton, from here