Mohammed Kudus was proud of West Ham United’s performance on Sunday, despite ultimately suffering a 2-1 defeat to Premier League leaders Liverpool.
After going behind to Luis Díaz's 18th-minute opener, the Irons rallied, responded, and registered a deserved equaliser four minutes from time when Virgil van Dijk inadvertently played the ball off Andy Robertson’s shins, who turned it into his own net.
That looked to be enough to take a point, and in truth we would have been good value for it, only for van Dijk to rise above his marker to nod in Alexis Mac Allister’s corner and earn Liverpool all three points close to the death.
Although ultimately coming out of the game empty-handed, Kudus was impressed with the all-round display, that he believes was full of encouraging signs.
“I'm very proud of the team and everyone because we gave it our all,” said Kudus. “We knew playing at Anfield against the best team in the league was going to be a tough challenge, but I think everyone stood up against it for the whole game.
“It's just the last part, the last piece of concentration in the game, and we lost it from a set-piece. It was tough to take, but I think everyone was on top form today, and I'm proud of the team. We can take this as a positive and get ready for the next game.
“We created a lot [in the second half]. You could see that in the second half we started to play more, and we started creating more chances. It's just about having the confidence to play in difficult stadiums like this.
“I felt that we were in control in the second half in some parts of the game, and we kept going and started creating a lot of chances. Unfortunately, they didn’t go in like we wanted to, but it's part of the game. It happens sometimes.
“There were some good saves from their goalkeeper (Alisson) as well. We could have got a point, but there are a lot of positives. We can take this and focus on the next game.”
Although the Hammers missed out on becoming just the fourth team to take at least a point from Anfield in the league this term, Graham Potter’s side were given a rapturous reception by their 3,000-strong travelling support at the end, and Kudus says performances such as Sunday’s are the very minimum that the Claret and Blue Army deserve.
“The effort, energy, encouragement and everything from the whole team is the least we can give the fans,” our No14 added. “We lost the game, but you could see the energy from the fans after the game, and they know that we put in a good shift and we did our best.
“Every game we can be confident, and for the rest of the season we will be doing our best to get results and finish the season strongly.”
