Alphonse Areola admitted to feeling a sense of frustration at losing Monday night’s Premier League game to Newcastle United.
The Irons were hopeful of extending a two-match winning run when the Magpies came to town, but were left licking their wounds after Bruno Guimarães’ 63rd-minute strike proved decisive at London Stadium.
Areola and his teammates were frustrated that they had not taken earlier chances to break the deadlock themselves, frustrated at the manner of the goal they conceded - they felt a foul could have been awarded for a push by Alexander Isak on Maximilian Kilman - but most of all frustrated that a solid defensive effort did not yield a third successive clean sheet.
It looked for the first hour of the contest that the Hammers were on track for that, not least when Areola made a spectacular stop to prevent Kilman’s sliced clearance from finding the top corner, but ultimately their efforts proved in vain.
“It's frustrating,” Areola admitted. “When you think about the game, we were solid all game, and we concede that goal.
“It's frustrating to lose like that, but it's what we did and we need to improve.
“I'm not a ref, the ref has a big job to do during a game. It's part of the game, we have to move on and stay focused and strong.”
Areola’s standout moment across the 90 minutes was undoubtedly that superb save from Kilman, for which the No23 had to adjust his feet quickly before arching backwards and clawing the ball out from the top corner of the goal.
While it will go down as one of the saves of the season, for Areola there was no satisfaction to be taken given the final result.
"It came so quick," he recalled. "On the action, I thought it was the striker, but it was Max.
"During training, we've been practicing footwork and decisions and to be on the feet and to be ready to push.
"Lucky for me tonight, I've made that save. I'm happy with that save, but I'm frustrated about the result. It's always like that when you lose or when you don't get points. The team comes first."
