Flynn Downes’ face spoke a thousand words as he waited to begin his West Ham TV interview following Sunday’s 2-0 Premier League defeat at Tottenham Hotspur.
The lifelong Hammers fan returned to the Premier League starting XI for the first time since 30 October, but any pride and happiness at that was quickly replaced by frustration and disappointment in north London.
There, after a strong start and even first half, the Irons wilted in the second, conceded goals to Emerson Royal and Heung-min Son and dropped to an eighth away defeat of the season that left them in the relegation zone.
Speaking from the heart, the No12’s emotions were laid bare, as was his determination to give everything to get his boyhood Club out of the predicament they find themselves in.
As a West Ham fan yourself, it’s tough right now, isn’t it?
“It’s killing me. It’s killing everyone. West Ham fan or not it’s killing everyone at the Club. We’re not in a good spot. But we know what we have to do, we have to take the fight to everyone.”
We started so well, so it’s difficult to see the final score line…
“That’s what we wanted to do, to come here and [start quickly]. We didn’t want to come away from home and sit off. They are a good possession team but we wanted to take it to them.
“I thought first half we played well, but in the second half we didn’t get out of the traps and when you don’t get out the traps against these sort of teams, they punish you. Two mistakes, and two goals and they put the game to bed.”
When we were on top it was so important to get the first goal, wasn’t it?
“Big time. Especially away from home, you want to silence the crowd. We had a couple of chances but it is what it is, it’s just our luck at the minute. We have got to fight now.”
The second half just felt different…we lacked the energy we showed in the first half, what happened?
“I don’t know. I really don’t. We didn’t start [the second 45 minutes] how we started the first half. I thought we were playing backwards too much, we didn’t hit [Michail Antonio or Tomáš Souček] enough.”
You look down…
“Obviously, I am a bit annoyed but we have got to brush ourselves down. We know what we are in for now - it’s a relegation battle, whether you like the facts or not that’s what it is so let’s have it.”
We’re 18th, there's no shying away from our position, we know what we need to do now?
“There is no beating around the bush. We know what we are in for, in every game we play now we have to win and that starts Saturday. We have to win. It’s as simple as that. Pressure or not we have to win, there’s no other option.”
Our fans stick with us regardless of the result and we saw that again today, as the 3,000 stayed right until the end….that support is something else, right?
“The fans are a joke. It’s disappointing because you want to do it for them, they travel here and want to see us do well and win. We need to get out of the position for them. It’s as simple as that.”
Next up is Nottingham Forest for a traditional Saturday 3pm kick-off, we have to go and give it to them?
“That’s exactly it. We have to go out there and have it. Whether we play well or not we need to get three points and we can’t come off the pitch until we do. So that’s sort of it, everyone in the [dressing room] knows where we are at, we just have to do it now.”
