Declan Rice gave an honest assessment of West Ham United’s start to their Premier League campaign after Brighton & Hove Albion made it three defeats from three for the Hammers.
Alexis Mac Allister and Leandro Trossard scored the goals as the Seagulls flew away from east London with a 2-0 victory and left the hosts still searching for their first points of the season.
It leaves the Hammers in a position they did not expect to be in and captain Rice has called on his team to lift their heads, graft on the training pitch and meet the high standards they have set for themselves over two-and-a-half richly-successful years.
Dec, it’s tough at the moment but we’ve just got to work from here and improve?
“Yeah. As you can see on my face I’m annoyed and disappointed because this is not the level we have set over the last two years.
“We know as a group of players if you lose the first three games you’re constantly chasing, and we don’t want to do that.
“Look at the start we had last year – we were on fire and it set the tone for the season. It’s down to us to pick up and go again.”
What did you make of the game against Brighton. It felt as though we were the better team until the penalty?
“In the first half I thought there were glimpses where we could have done better, but we stayed in the game, kept possession of the ball, moved it around but couldn’t get that killer touch.
“Obviously you concede a penalty and from there it’s an uphill task. It was a poor goal to concede in the second half but, look, we need to get back on it.
“As a group of lads, last year and the year before we were so good because we were honest, we stayed together, we worked our socks off on the pitch and gave everything. I think from the start in these first three games we’re feeling a little bit sorry for ourselves. There’s no easy game in the Premier League so unless you start to work and get three points on the board you’ll be chasing.”
When you lose a game or two, perhaps you start to hesitate a bit and it snowballs from there. Would that be fair?
“I was up in the stand on Thursday night watching the game against Viborg, and the game looks totally different when you’re sitting there compared to when you’re on the pitch.
“The second you have to make a decision, knowing the next pass and how quick everything moves, on the field it’s really tough, but we’re a good team and we just need to get our confidence back, be free-flowing, create chances and get the fans on their feet. We’ve got the players to do that, it’s down to us to do it.”
Is it just a question of if we can get the first goal in the next game it’ll be a totally different feeling?
“Of course, but Villa in the next [Premier League] game is tough, then it’s Spurs and Chelsea. We don’t want to be down in the bottom half of the table for the season, so we need to raise our standards, we need to be better. We need to win the game next week, it’s a simple as that.
“We need to go out there, give everything, leave nothing on the pitch and walk away with three points.”
