Fans had every right to boo West Ham off after Crystal Palace loss – Declan Rice
Declan Rice believes the West Ham fans had every right to boo their team off after the dismal 2-1 home defeat by Crystal Palace.
Michael Olise’s deflected strike in stoppage time sent the Hammers slipping to 15th in the Premier League.
West Ham have impressed in the Europa Conference League this season, winning all six of their group matches, but are finding it tough going domestically, despite some big summer spending.
“I’m devastated. That was a game we had to win,” Hammers skipper Rice told West Ham TV.
“Fans can voice their opinions. They pay their hard-earned money to come and watch us. We weren’t at it and the expectation now of the club is to do better.
“They’re probably right to boo us in a way because we weren’t good enough and we know we have to do better.
“We knew we had two big games before the World Cup to put yourself in a good position before we go away and you lose one of them so you’re counting on (Leicester) next week and needing a big result.
“At this stage of the season you don’t want to be feeling like that already.
“That’s what we’ve done so well in the last two seasons; we’d have won a game like that and been comfortable in the table and now we’re chasing our tails. It’s not where we want to be.
“It’s really frustrating. I feel like we’re two different teams. At Anfield, Old Trafford, Southampton recently, we keep the ball for fun and then at home we look a different team.
“It’s been good in Europe but we’re too inconsistent in the Premier League. If we want to be a top team, like we keep talking about, we need to win games like that.
“The main competition is the Premier League. We’re gutted, I just want us to do well, but look, we’ll bounce back for sure.”
Said Benrahma fired West Ham into the lead but Wilfried Zaha equalised and Olise gave Palace a first away win of the season.
“Michael’s still growing as a player,” said Eagles boss Patrick Vieira.
“From the start of the game he was really lively, he was getting the ball in his feet, creating situations for us and he had a really good game. There’s no doubt about his ability to score goals or to play well.”
Published: by Radio NewsHub