Moyes Speaks Volume: “Mountain to climb” | Rice on damaging loss in relegation battle

West Ham failed to take a step towards safety with a damaging loss to Crystal Palace with Declan Rice admitting our Hammers were not good enough.

Despite a recent upturn in performances of late, West Ham looked a side battling fatigue with a busy month taking its toll, although questions must be asked on squad rotation.

David Moyes fielded a strong side however many have been utilised a lot of late, with tired bodies and minds evident as we struggled to handle the intensity of the home team.

West Ham went ahead thanks to Soucek firing in a rebound from a corner, but the lead was short lived as goals from Ayew, Zaha and Schlupp flipped the game on its head as our Hammers imploded within the first half an hour.

Antonio gave us hope though by scoring 5 minutes later as we went in a goal behind at the break with the hope the second half would see a more organised and clinical approach.

West Ham though still looked leggy and struggled with the occasion, however it’s fair to say the officials were at fault for awarding a penalty even with a VAR check after Aguerd was deemed to have fouled Eze – even though replays showed it was clearly a dive.

Eze converted to put the game out of reach, although West Ham did pull one back through Aguerd but it wasn’t enough as our Hammers fell to a damaging defeat to raise relegation fears once again.

Captain Declan Rice, who himself looked exhausted, admitted that we were not good enough today in such an important fixture with tough games on the horizon.

“We needed to win that or at least get a point so to lose that – it really hurts,” admitted the captain as reported by the club’s Official Website.

”If you come away to a place like Palace, you can’t concede three goals because it gives you a mountain to climb. And you have a hard time winning matches when you concede that number of goals.

“We were not good enough today. We put ourselves right in it and we couldn’t get back in it. We scored three goals, but it is not enough with where we are in the table.”

Rice also acknowledged that upcoming fixtures are very tough but the team believe points can be gained in our battle to stay in the Premier League.

“We have got Manchester City, which is going to be a tough test,” added Rice. “Then Manchester United, which we are always up for with a big game at home. And hopefully, we can get something out of the next two.”