Declan Rice was typically forthright in the wake of West Ham United’s 5-1 defeat by Newcastle United on Wednesday evening.
The Hammers saw Kurt Zouma halve the deficit after Joelinton and Callum Wilson had struck in east London after capitalising on loose defending, but the game quickly faded out of reach early in the second half.
Wilson added his second of the night 30 seconds after the restart from another error, before Alexander Isak and Joelinton compounded a miserable evening at London Stadium.
Captain Rice, who himself gave all he could for the Claret and Blue cause, was honest in his assessment of proceedings. Simply, he told West Ham TV, it was not good enough.
“The reality is you can’t win any game of football and concede five goals how we did," he stated. “Five poor, terrible mistakes that you can’t make at the top level.
“The goal at the start of the second half gave us a mountain to climb and from there it was really tough to turn it around.”
For all those of a Claret and Blue disposition, the frustration was only heightened because the Hammers made a positive start.
But the quick opening from the Irons, who hit the post within a minute when Jarrod Bowen’s cross deflected off Bruno Guimarães, was quickly rendered meaningless. Newcastle, with their first two shots on target, struck twice in the opening 13 minutes. Defensive mistakes after the break later saw three more goals for the visitors.
“It is a really tough one to take because I felt an energy, a fight, a good start, and desire and felt the crowd pushing us," Rice continued. "Even when we were two goals down, it didn’t feel like we should be [losing because] we were playing really well.
“We made five mistakes that you can’t make, and it is a bad night.”
And despite falling to a first home defeat of the calendar year, Rice was adamant he and his teammates could not afford to sulk or lick their wounds.
Fulham away on Saturday is a chance to get an important three points and help the Irons put space between themselves and the bottom three. It is chance to bounce back quickly, most of all.
Rice stated: “There has been an incredible spirit and togetherness within the group. And like I have said all season, it hasn’t felt like we are down there but that’s the reality of the situation.
“It hurts. But we are positive that we have enough to get out of this. We can only worry about ourselves…we have picked up results. It is down to us. And if we win our games, we will be alright. And I still believe we will be fine.
“The beauty of football is that we have another game Saturday. The lads want to put it right, and the manager wants to put it right. We want that winning feeling and hopefully we can get that on the weekend.”
